Hi! I'm going nice and fast! This is a short-ish chapter, I think. Anyway, I'll be typing up the next chapter, so! On with the story!

Disclaimer: (I'm not going to forget it again! ) I don't own Naruto and/or any of the characters. I can't draw…

- - -

"…So now he's my teacher," Sakura finished. Taking a long gulp of water, she watched Ino's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

"You still haven't told me who it is!" Ino wailed, frantically wringing her hands. "Sakura, tell me who it is!" In desperation, she grabbed her friend's shoulders and shook her. "Sakura!"

"Are you sure you want to know, Ino?" the cherry blossom girl asked, her face dead serious. "Once I tell you, you can't speak a word to anyone."

Ino hesitated – she loved to gossip – but nodded. "You'll need my support, forehead girl," she insisted. "I just get this feeling that you'll need someone you can talk to about your training. Ne?" She winked.

Sakura smiled gratefully at the blonde and said quietly, "I hope you won't be too shocked… My new sensei is Uchiha Itachi."

Ino's mouth dropped open (a long way; she has a big mouth!) and she exclaimed weakly, "You are not serious. You can't be serious."

"But she is, Yamanaka-san," Itachi's deep, resonating voice said smoothly. "I am, for the time being, Sakura's teacher. Sakura, you're due to meet Hokage-sama in five minutes."

"Hai!" Sakura answered, shooting up. "Ino-pig, can I borrow those weights?"

"Sure, forehead girl!" Ino consented. "In fact, since otou-san doesn't need 'em anymore, you can have 'em!"

"Arigatou, Ino!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes, thank you," Itachi agreed. "Sakura, I will take the weights back to your house. Once you are done with the Hokage, I will be waiting in your backyard – or what is left of it."

She laughed sheepishly. "Hai, sensei!"

"Sakura, tell me about it later, okay?" Ino called after her as she left. Sakura raised a hand in acknowledgement.

"See you, Ino, sensei!" she called.

"Sakura." Itachi's voice stopped her in her tracks. "Tell Hokage-sama about Inner Sakura."

"Hai!" And she was gone .Ino turned to Itachi, question in her eyes.

"Inner Sakura?" He glanced at her briefly before leaving.

"Sakura will explain." He had given his permission for Ino to officially know about him. She was in on the secret.

At the Hokage's Tower

"Tsunade-sama, you wanted to see me?" Sakura asked, inclining her head respectfully. The Fifth Hokage pushed aside the piles of paper on her desk and grinned at the kunoichi in front of her. She requested to see Sakura mold chakra, and the pink-haired girl complied.

"You have very good chakra control, Sakura," Tsunade observed. "I think that I can help you by teaching you how to use it to create large amounts of strength, the way I do. From now on, I am your shishou."

"Would you really?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"Of course." Tsunade smiled gently, looking into her apprentice's emerald eyes, which were wide and innocent. So trusting, she thought to herself. She doesn't deserve what they've done to her… I'm glad that Itachi found her. Shaking herself mentally, she beamed. "Let's start, then!"

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou!"

Now we're finally learning something! Cha!

Oh, are you feeling better?

I wouldn't miss this if I were dying!

Two Hours Later

"Now that you've got the idea of it," Tsunade instructed, "use your chakra like I taught you and smash that boulder." She pointed to a medium-sized stone.

Let's do this!

Molding chakra in her fist, Sakura slammed it into the rock. After a few seconds, it crumbled into small stones.

"Hm…" Tsunade mused. "Sakura, how big do you think you can go?" Looking around, Sakura carefully analyzed each boulder. Finally, she pointed.

"I think I can break that one."

"Try it then," the Hokage ordered.

CRACK!

She watched as the pieces came crumbling down. Once the dust had settled, she stared at the pile of rubble that had been a very large boulder. "Sakura…"

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou?" the oblivious girl asked worriedly. "Did I do something wrong?" Tsunade suddenly reached out and hugged her apprentice.

"I think that if we keep training you, you could surpass even my strength!" she murmured.

Cha! Inner Sakura shouted, pumping a fist in the air. Hey, hey, Saku-chan! Weren't you supposed to tell shishou about me?

Oh, yeah!

"Shishou, there's something that sensei wanted me to tell you about," Sakura said slowly.

"Yes?" Tsunade's eyes watched her carefully.

"Well, sensei kinda attacked me this morning – I think he was trying to wake me up by tossing a kunai at me, but anyways… apparently he did this for two hours before I woke up. But while I was asleep, my body was dodging and deflecting all of his attacks and – according to him – yelling at the top of my lungs," Sakura explained, blushing.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And how do you explain this?"

"Ano… I have this other personality inside of me who I call Inner Sakura... She helped me get out of Ino's Mind Transfer Technique (A/N: I'm sorry. I don't know what it's called in Japanese. Anybody else know?) at the Chuunin exams, remember? Ino was pushed back because of Inner Sakura. She couldn't handle two of me at the same time," Sakura muttered. "But I always thought she was just a figment of my imagination…"

Hey!

What? It's true!

"But she took over your body," Tsunade finished for her. "I see. Hm… If I knock you unconscious, Sakura, do you think she'll be able to come out?"

Probably.

"I think so," Sakura replied carefully. "Can we try?" Tsunade nodded and walked around to Sakura's back. Gently pressing the pressure point on her neck, she sent the kunoichi into oblivion.

Well, on the outside, anyways. Inner Sakura was just waking up.

- - -

Well? I know it was kinda short, but… Yeah. What's Ino's technique called again? If anybody know, please tell me!