If you don't want it in the final piece with the drying risks that entails, chainsaw it up the middle now. Chalk the place just above center on the far end, cut directly down through the billet, watching the near end.
http://www.customwooddesign.com/turninggreenwood-1.html et al.
At 6 to 10" there's not much wood to give away, so taking a slab out of the middle makes little sense. If it's branch wood, you're in for some strange drying directions anyway.
Get your bark up stuff cut SOON, so the sapwood doesn't discolor on you.