AN: It's a shorter update because I'd prolonged the update for long enough as it was and figured having something short that was good enough to be posted was better than nothing. The next portion of the story is giving me considerable headaches and so it might be a while until the next update. Sorry about that.

Umm also…I didn't exactly skip over the training as you can tell with this chapter and the ending of this one will give you some clue into the next one. I just didn't want to go into microscopic detail of the training, dissecting it. But it needed to be believable so, yea…and really We all know Itachi sama is secretive, and wouldn't share his techniques with me anyways ::pouts::

In case you didn't know, as I realized I haven't had a disclaimer for this story yet, I don't own anything. Bummer.

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not." -Anonymous-

Two weeks into the training and Sakura could feel the difference. Though the past two weeks had been the most grueling, torturous hell filled weeks, of her entire life. There were many times she had willed her death before having to pull her withered muscles and near corpse like body back to his training for more pain. She had never been so sore in her entire life and she'd had no healing chakra left at the end of the day to heal her battered body lest she suffer from chakra exhaustion the next day. She went to sleep with ripped ligaments, torn muscles, cracked ribs, broken fingers. The worst night was when she'd broken her leg and had to hobble and then finally crawl her way to bed.

She could feel it. Not just in her toned physique. Sakura had been toned before. She had lost at least ten pounds in the intensity of the training and gained muscle. After all, she was intelligent in her own rights. She could feel it in the way she moved, they way she thought about battle. And working with a genius forced her to rise to the occasion. One could only get pummeled so much before something was bound to change. She could start catching subtle nuances in his movement and finally be able to see and read his actions. She was beginning to see through his subtlety.

Sakura had never had a task master like the stern Uchiha prodigy. Itachi was absolutely unforgiving. If she had so much as a toe out of place in her form he would batter her with blows that would expose her bad footwork for what it was. He worked on her form most specifically making sure that she never shifted, that her footwork was absolutely perfect. He had pointed out to her that if she didn't have proper footwork it would waste some of the chakra channeling through her devastating blows. It would also leave her open for opponents. She had the form down by the end of the week.

He did not go easy on her or lightly. He did not use the same jutsu on her twice, exposing her to multiple jutsu that she had no earthly idea how to counter. She took the full impact of every blow, every jutsu he used and he did not hold back. Sakura had never felt more clumsy in her entire career as a ninja. She was pummeled assaulted by techniques at every turn. And when she ran out of chakra, they began Taijutsu. The man tore away at everything she had ever been and reformed what was left, what stood the test of his blows, improving, designing and sculpting. And she grew stronger because of it.

She lasted longer, could hear, see, and feel much clearer than she ever had in her life. Her senses were heightened, aware of the most miniscule things that others would overlook. She learned how to respond in split second with a counter jutsu and he countered even those forcing her to continue to operate in a fast paced environment. She didn't have time to think it through thoroughly. She had to trust her first decision, whether or not it failed. In turn, she learned to make better decisions in split second scenarios. She had never whirled through hand seals as quickly as she did now, and she did not hesitate any longer, a trait Itachi had literally pummeled out of her.

She couldn't afford to, when a split second with Uchiha Itachi meant everything; the difference between winning and loosing. There was something so startlingly similar in his form. It was déjà vu for Sakura. It had taken her 2 days to figure out why. He moved like Sasuke, only deadlier. It was as if being a part of Sasuke's team, watching him move was like watching someone walk, maybe jog at times in comparison to what she witnessed now. Itachi moved at the speed of sound, movements graceful and calculated. Sasuke's form was the beginning of a genius. Itachi's was the end product of years of pushing his limits with room for expansion. Truly he was worth of the title of prodigy and genius.

Itachi wasn't disappointed in her progress. Sakura had gained leaps and bounds as he taught her, taking in everything like a sponge. He pushed her farther, faster, harder. She was intelligent enough to pick up on his hints without having to tell her twice, a fact he appreciated in their training. Itachi couldn't train intelligence. He could train technique form and precision to those who were intelligent to start with. He did not go easy on her and to her credit she rose to meet the challenge, head on. She was beginning to pick up on his body movements.

Part of that was simple proximity. They had shared a house, had trained together for fourteen days without ceasing for hours on end at a time. It was only natural that their bodies would become so intuned with each other. They were adjusting to each others movements, reactions and subtle body language. His training sessions with her had cut into their sleep because they simply had too much work to do. He had left her battered and broken, time after time again only to rise and do so the next morning. It helped that she was a medic and could heal her own wounds. It allowed for longer, more intense training sessions that could continue each day without breaking their established routine or stride in her girl had excellent chakra control.

And of course Uchiha Itachi never tired of irritating her. The day he had irritated her the most was when he had criticized her creativity. If she was such a genius, why was she not creating her own battle techniques? She had thought to create medical jutsu but didn't apply the same ability and gumption that she did to her ninjitsu. Sakura hadn't created a battle worthy technique yet and her teammates already had a repertoire of credible techniques based off of the aforementioned moves taught to him by the sannin and their sensei. To say that Sakura had not been pleased was the biggest understatement of his life. She had ended that fight, by cracking a rib. Then she had spent a good portion of her sleep time and research time studying up on jutsu to create something from scratch.

He had been more than satisfied with her creations when she'd finally revealed them. They might have lacked complete ingenuity but she made up for it in style. She was already above anbu class easily when he had first met her. She was steadily on her way to becoming S class in every way under his careful tutelage. And she'd already had the skill developed in her. She just needed to access it, to hone it. She needed for someone to show her the unused potential. But she had never had someone like that. Surely Tsunade passed down her medical techniques and her chakra strength but had never given her the wherewithal to use that knowledge into hardening her as a warrior. It was unforgiveable the way Sakura had been ignored and looked over in light of her other teammates.

And now Itachi needed to break her of the one thing that was holding her back, that had continued to hold her back the entire way from what he had observed of her and knew of her background.

Sakura sat palms opened, knees folded, chi aligned as she meditated besides the Uchiha prodigy. He wanted her to be calm, cool, and collected for what would happen next. Her thoughts drifted to team seven, to the dark haired younger brother of one Uchiha Itachi. And then she thought of one red headed bitch, her replacement on team Hebi. She thought of the images that Itachi had made her see in his genjutsu. Her brow furrowed, she twitched in her meditating and leaned forward, her fingers twitched in a wistful will of desiring to clench her fist, breaking her posture. Biting her lip as her eyes closed and her fists clenched she hated herself.

'You're weak" He told her, lip sneered as he eyed her broken movement.

"W-what?" She said, startled.

"You're weak" He repeated.

Sakura had been startled the first time he said it. But after surviving his training for the past few weeks, she didn't have to put up with this. She was not weak. How dare he say something like that to her? He who knew the effect it would have on her. Shannaro! Inner Sakura snarled.

Sakura rose shakily to her feet, rage blaring. "Say it again" She commanded, hardened jade meeting those blood red Sharingan as her fists clenched.

"You're weak!" He said. Itachi blocked the fist and her foot easily as the battle started.

"I. Am. Not!" She snarled, smashing the ground, and launching her self at him.

"You are weak. You can't even concentrate on your training, mentally or physically because your thoughts are centered on him." Itachi said, blocking the taijutsu she launched, while parrying her kunai. He threw her back with a swift kick.

"Shut UP!" She snarled.

Oh she was irritated alright, green eyes flaring, cheeks red, pink eyebrows knit and drawn tautly, knuckles white with her grip of fury, and her clenched jaw. Itachi smiled and pressed his advantage.

"You can't even find it within yourself to hate him for what he did to you. He has made you weak and you still glorify him like some god." Itachi replied.

Green eyes barely widened but Itachi didn't miss her microscopic flinch and launched himself offensively. His kick sent her tumbling into the wall. He followed it up with slamming her shoulders into the rock painfully.

"You're wrong! When he left I finally found the courage to grow strong" Sakura snapped, arms on his as she broke hold after hold.

"To find him. It's always been about him, hasn't it? It's pathetic how you cling to his ghost. You hunger for the fight because she has connection to him" Itachi blocked her kick to his groin, and threw her over his shoulder using a basic taijutsu kata.

"No. I want to end it. This." She said trying to kick his feet out from under him and when that failed launching herself up, leaping at him.

"Which means that your strength is still founded on him. The strength that thinks with foolish delusion, that our combined efforts will somehow make this all right. He breaks you still as he did before, only this time from the grave." Itachi replied.

"I. AM . NOT. BROKEN." Sakura screamed, chest heaving from her exertion.

"You are broken and he has broken you, ruined you so that you can see no other than him. It would be funny if it weren't so hollowly wretched and pathetic" Itachi told her firmly.

"Damn you! Shut up! You don't know anything about me, or him." She shrieked, fists and feet flying in fury at him.

Sakura was finally loosing her composure. He was getting to her, breaking down those walls she had erected to try and keep him out. As if he hadn't seen them to start with.

"No, instead of hating the one who did this to you, you direct that rage at me. You project your hurt onto me, thinking that if you simply beat it out it will go away." Itachi said, blocking Taijutsu kata with Taijutsu kata.

"You are his puppet, and when he pulls the strings you dance. But when he cut the strings you lost yourself, again and again. Such a tragic cycle" Itachi told her.

"ITACHI!" She snarled, landing a punch. He smirked evily.

"Your hatred of me is strong, Sakura. But you aren't really angry at me, which is why you fail. Truly you are not strong enough" he said, sending her flying into the wall.

Sakura felt the crack in the rock as she lost her breathe. She crumbled, sliding down the wall. His hold around her neck was loose, but she could not break it as her lungs were choked from withholding her sobs. She didn't have the strength, the stamina or the perseverance. She wilted, eyes filling with tears.

"How.." She murmured, sobbing.

"Your eyes, dear one" He said, thumb brushing across a tear trailing down her cheek. "Your eyes tell me everything I need to know." Itachi told her, sharingan whirling.

"No.." She cried, as he released his grip on her neck. She stumbled into his chest, hands gripping his shirt as she hung her head.

His hand under her chin forced her tear filled eyes to look into his. "He shattered your confidence long ago, didn't he?" He asked her softly, tenderly even.

"No" she denied with a vehement shake of her head as she choked on her sob.

"Ah, I see. You had the kyuubi bearer to help you, didn't you?" He said, reading every emotion and story behind those beautiful verdant eyes.

"But belief in him wasn't enough to make you whole was it, Sakura?" Itachi remarked.

Sakura felt naked, hollow, cracked and broken in front of this man who's eyes saw everything she was.

"Naruto grew strong, didn't he? He believed in himself and you believed in him. Your belief in Naruto kept you from crumbling. From falling. You believed in Naruto, Sakura, but never in yourself. You deluded yourself in your training. You tried to be strong enough to help Naruto, but you never believed that your own strength would save him, did you? Obviously, You weren't enough, were you?"

He didn't need her answer because he saw it in those eyes. The truth resounded in the silence between them, ringing hollowly to the broken girl in front of him.

"You lost your self esteem along the way, didn't you? Somewhere between becoming a ninja and loosing the girl who wanted to impress Sasuke, you lost who you really were." Itachi told her.

And those verdant tear filled eyes curved, dangerous as they narrowed at him.

"You still don't believe in the power of your strength and that is why you are weak. You do not hate him, the one that broke you." Itachi told her.

"I will not hate him. I cannot." Sakura replied fiercely, firmly as she looked up into Itachi's eyes.

"Then you will not exchange your delusions for reality, Sakura. I cannot, will not train you any further unless you start to believe." He said simply.

Sakura's eyes widened, his threat tearing her to the core. She couldn't go after Karin at her current level. She couldn't find out what happened to Sasuke unless they finished.

"Believe what Itachi? You want me to hate, that's hardly my own belief. You ask me to walk your line and I cannot do it. I will not." Sakura replied.

"You have no idea what I ask of you, Sakura" Itachi replied.

"I will not hate him. I wont be like you" Sakura snapped.

"Hatred keeps me alive, Sakura. It keeps me headed down the path I walk."

"The path of darkness." Sakura glared.

"If that is what allows you to sleep better at night, knowing you are on the side of righteousness, or that you think you know my own circumstances, then yes, I suppose it is. Regardless your opinions of what you think you know about me are meaningless." Itachi replied.

"You just want me to believe what you believe. I am not your clone, or your mindless pupil to take every word you say, while begging at your feet." Sakura snapped.

"You think you know what I'm trying to do. For all your strength and training, Sakura, you are the blind one." Itachi told her.

"Then what? What are you trying to do?" Sakura said. "Once again you hold the knowledge loftily over my head and refuse to tell me. Spell it out for me, Itachi. Explain it to me" Sakura demanded.

"For this training to be effective, dearest, you need to believe in the one person that matters." He said, eying her significantly.

"I will not believe in you Itachi." She said. "Hatred is not the answer."

And then he laughed. Itachi laughed and laughed and continued to laugh as Sakura's face drained of understanding. Itachi saw that look and decided to kindly put her out of her muddled misery.

"Hatred is the question, Sakura. You are a fool, like my foolish little brother was." Itachi replied.

"W-what? Why are you laughing at me?" Sakura demanded.

"Because you still don't understand. I suppose I will have to be patient, though it will set us back" Itachi replied as he turned his back on her.

"Itachi! Answer me" Sakura ordered.

"The only one you need to believe in, Sakura, to find the strength to save, is just that"

"I don't understand" She said.

"You." He replied.

The word hit Sakura full force. Sakura sunk to her knees.

………………………………………………

Sakura spent the rest of the day down below in the training hall. Itachi read while he mused on her progress. She had been down there for hours. It was unlikely they would accomplish any more today with her newest break through in progress. The girl had a lot to process through and he wasn't about to let her get away with deluding herself in the future. She wanted his training, and train her he would. He was a harsh task master but he knew what it would take to overcome this. She had to.

She had to overcome this. She had to accept herself, strengths and weaknesses. She couldn't live in a world handicapped by her codependency any longer. As a nukenin she would be ripped to pieces on such needy reliance on others. She was too trusting, too willing to let others carry her burden for her and that was what had gotten her into the mess she was, in the first place. She had to hone herself, to discipline herself. She had to overcome her belief in her own inadequacy, her uselessness. It wasn't that Itachi was being particularly calloused to her. It simply was fact. No nice words, or encouraging statements from him could make her believe that she was worthwhile. She had to decide to overcome that particularly nasty idea herself.

Until she believed she was worthwhile, it was useless training her. It wouldn't help. She would continue to dither around, possibly gain some more strength until her next break down, in which she might start backsliding into what she always became when things became harsh. She would fall into herself and not get back up. She needed to believe in herself. If she didn't, the effectiveness of her moves was cut in half. Already she dragged her feet in their training sessions. Itachi sighed and settled himself down in his research while he waited. Knowing her as he did now, he knew this would not overcome her. Or at least he anticipated that it wouldn't overcome her. Itachi was nothing if not cautious and thorough.

It was quite possible that this issue could swallow her whole and spit her out even worse than before. Definitely possible, given the odds and just how many people had snapped under his training because they simply couldn't take the pressure of it.

Itachi was surprised to find that he didn't think that she would be one of those cases. Even more surprising, Itachi found that he had faith in her. He actually believed in her strength, even if she didn't. The girl was blind to how she affected others. Without her strength many would have perished. She didn't seem to comprehend how she had saved people countless times before. He sighed and returned to his reading. It was her battle not his. He had done all that he could do for her and now the rest was up to her.

Itachi's fist clenched as the scroll he was cross referencing brought up a portion of medical justu, of course leading his train of thought back to the one he was trying to avoid. Itachi was more than slightly irritated. She had been the source of his thoughts for these past weeks. Lately the pink haired medic nin had been straying into his thoughts far too frequently for the Uchiha prodigy's comfort. Focus he ordered himself as he scanned the scroll. He was able to digest and access the information after his own mental rebuke and return to the task at hand. But the corner of his sharingan eye fixated on the entrance to the training hall, without his complete awareness of it as he read.