Disclaimer: Although I wish I did, I do not own Naruto. –tears-

Refresher:

The index finger of the silver-haired jounin's left hand found it's way onto Iruka's soft lips. He smiled gently, his mask moving and muffling his words as he spoke gently. Iruka shivered with suppressed joy.

"It's alright Iruka, they can know. Or are you suddenly ashamed?"

"Hey! What's going on here?"

Kakashi turned with Iruka and looked at the blonde-haired boy. Kakashi smiled slightly and shook his head. He took his finger away from Iruka's cute lips and watched the boys, then he looked at the girl. Sakura looked as though she had an idea what was going on, but not much of an idea. Kakashi smiled and grinned slightly,

"We're going riding!"

With those words said, the jounin moved under the stable's sign and headed past the horse, stopping to greet a few who were bold enough to come near him. He smiled, petting a placid bay mare when Sakura came over and touched the mare as well,

"Kakashi-sensei?"

She asked hesitantly; Kakashi looked at her and lifted his visible eyebrow with the unasked question, she blushed suddenly,

"Kakashi-sensei, why are we here? I mean, I've ridden horses before, and it really doesn't help with your chakra at all, I mean, it doesn't focus on how the body moves…"

"Sakura-kun, very good."

She looked up at the jounin, confusion flickering over her gaze as she watched the trickster and sighed softly.

"So the, why are we here?"

"Because it does help with your chakra skills."

When the pink-haired female looked at her sensei with the same question, and a bit of an annoyed look. He pointed to a group of rough-looking horses, each bad-tempered and nasty-looking. She gulped,

"Don't tell me," she said dryly, "we're going to go and ride those horses?"

Kakashi smiled, "Yes."

"I can understand why chakra might be needed."

"Mhmmm"

The jounin went off to the stable master and chatted with him a while. The genin who he'd been talking to watched as the stable-master, a chestnut haired man with a rather thin body, and brown eyes shook his head and waved his arms towards more placid-looking animals. She watched as Kakashi sighed and shook his head and again indicated the mean-tempered horses.

The stable master looked at Kakashi as though the man was a loon. Perhaps Sensei is a loon…Sakura thought wistfully. But she knew it wasn't true.

Finally, she watched the poor stable master succumbed to the desires of the jounin and nodded his head. She could feel Kakashi's cruel smile and then turn and walked back over to her. Sakura quickly went back to grooming the bay with her fingers.

The horse snorted and touched her outfit with her wet, and grass-stained muzzle. When she took away her muzzle, Sakura had a nice grass-stain reaching almost half-way up her body. Anger flared up her face as she stared at her good clothes. This…this…animal had ruined them! Sakura, if she'd not been held back by her love of the hoofed-beasts, would have hit this mare. As she turned away from the animal, she caught a happy-face on Kakashi's face. Scowling at him she walked passed with her eyes narrowed.

Kakashi watched the mare and smiled, he walked back over to her and sighed as the horses he wanted were being readied. He turned and searched for Naruto and Sasuke, not to mention the chuunin he'd invited along for the ride.

"Sir,"

The jounin turned back to the stable-master who'd come up beside him. he nodded his head and looked interested,

"Yes?"

"Your horse are ready. Ride at you own risk."

Kakashi smiled and patted the stable master on the back. He didn't say anything, but he was clearly happy with the man. He turned and looked at his students, he called his students over to him, Iruka followed behind looking quite happy with the rest of the team. Kakashi smiled and waved his hand over to the horses who were tied apart from the other horses, and each were a few feet apart.

Naruto glanced at him, then at the horses. He suddenly looked confused,

"Sensei?"

"Maa, yes Naruto?"

"Those are the horses we are going to be riding?"

"Mhmmm."

"Can I pick first?"

Kakashi was shocked, but he soon covered his emotions and looked at the horses, he nodded his head and walked over with the rest of them. He noticed a slight look of fear over-come the raven-haired genin. He turned and looked at Sasuke, but the boy had already masked his face into one of firmness: He'd never let Naruto beat him. No matter how scared he was.

Sasuke's hands shook in his pockets, he scolded himself as he neared the horses. What was wrong with him? They were only horses, not that great either…so why was he so scared of them? He sighed and watched as Naruto approached the horses. He'd been watching Sakura and the others before this and had timidly approached a kind-looking horse. A…black? He sighed and looked over each of the horses, quickly analyzing them. Here's what his analysis came to:

The first horse was a mud-bay, dirtied coat with his ears laid back against his head. He was heavy on his fronts; one to watch for kicking. The horse had a blaze down his face, which kinda made his less intimidating. But no less scary than the others, he shivered a moved on.

The second horse, placed a few yards from the first; was a gray mare, her hide was nearly white, but it didn't shine as some of the other horse's hides shone, then again, she had the worst look of them all. She kept glancing at each of them, her ears pinned threateningly. As if to come near her would be a death sentence. Sasuke's courage was quickly fleeing, though he still managed to pull off his classic 'bored' look.

The third horse was a, dun was it? The horse's body was a nice honey gold color, the gelding turned and stared at each of them with intelligent eyes. Sasuke would most likely choose him, because while he was still nasty-looking, he didn't seem as mean as the others.

The fourth was a chestnut gelding with a placid, but evil look. The color of the horse actually reminded Sasuke of Iruka's hair. He glanced at the chuunin and nodded his head slightly, black eyes re-focused on the gelding. He sighed and managed not to shake in fear. He glanced at Naruto, who was approaching the meanest of the lot. The last horse.

The last horse was a stallion, that was clear, and he was farther apart from the others that they were of each other. The horse was a bright jet-black color, handsome and awesome, he was more like a god-horse than a ride-at-your-own-risk horse that Sasuke feared. The horse also had the evilest look in his cold black eyes. And the maverick was heading right towards him! Sasuke's only wish was that Naruto would die this day. Then he'd have no one in his way for the power he felt he deserved.

Sasuke, having looked over the horses, moved to the dun gelding. He looked at Sakura, who'd approached the gray mare and did what she did, though he lacked the confidence that she had. He placed his hand under the dun's nose and nearly screamed with fear when the horse nosed it gently. He shivered and made sure that no one caught the look he thrown the horse.

Kakashi watched all of his students as they approached the horses. He grinned as he noticed Sasuke's behavior. He pointed it out to Iruka, who absently nodded his head and went to the first horse. Kakashi admired the way Iruka greeted the horse and then went about tightening the saddle and nodded at Kakashi.

It was the jounin's turn to choose a horse, but there was only one left. He moved right, and confidently to the fourth horse. He greeted the horse and checked the gear, glad when he noticed that Sakura was also doing the same. He relaxed and moved towards Naruto, the boy was actively trying not to get bitten.

"Ahh! That was a close one! Try that again Nightmare! Haha! That's your name now! Nightmare!"

Kakashi sighed and moved away from the horse. He stood in front of them, ignoring the fact that Naruto couldn't pay any attention. He smiled and looked at all of them, looking at Iruka, the chuunin nodded and sighed, and then looked at Sasuke, who'd edged away from the horse,

"Well, I'm glad that all of you are getting used to your horses."

He almost laughed as Sasuke threw him a nasty glance, which mimicked the look of his own horse, and Iruka's horse. He sighed and smiled, he watched Naruto, Sakura was like a champ.

"I'm glad that you are getting acquainted to your horses. Because after today, we're going to ride everyday and look after them."

It was almost worth it to say that, to see the look on Sasuke's face as the genin looked at him. The boy was paler than he normally was. Kakashi grinned and laughed softly. Naruto was still trying to dodge the attacks of the black stallion. He smiled and then moved down to his mare.

"Alright my troops. We'll head into the arena and work the horses, then we'll do some riding, oh yes, I suggest that you name them, they are yours after all."

Kakashi untied the gelding he'd be riding and quickly dubbed him, 'Snare' Because the horse was smart and kept trying to snatch him when the jounin least expected it.

Iruka laughed, seeing the look on Sasuke's face. He turned and patted the horse, who tried to bite him and dubbed him, 'Mountain.' Because of his color and size. Iruka patted the horse and followed the teacher happily.

Sakura jumped up and down with glee, her own horse! She hugged the gray mare, named 'Snow Fall' and followed, glancing back and glad to see that Sasuke and Naruto were following with little, (or in Naruto's case) a lot of difficulty.

Sasuke blanched as he thought of owning this, beast. He turned and looked at the gelding,

"Name you?"

He said weakly and looked at the horse and sighed softly, the gelding nudged him gently, then pulled at the rope. Sasuke smiled and patted the horse, who snapped at him, therefore the boy dubbed him, 'Honey Snapper.' He then followed the others, watching Sakura closely.

Naruto evaded another bite attempt firm Nightmare and snorted angrily, glaring at the stallion, who met his challenge with fire. The boy sighed and patted the horse's hide and followed the others a safe distance away.

They all followed Kakashi who led them into the arena. He looked over his horse's shoulder and watched his students, he called back to Naruto to lock the gate, which the genin did. Kakashi had them line the horses up and sighed softly, he turned and petted Snare gently, the horse clamed drastically, as did Iruka's and Sakura's horses, which pleased Kakashi, of course, Sasuke and Naruto were having trouble with their mounts.

Sasuke evaded being bitten again and winced at the horse grabbed his shirt and pinched his skin. He resisted the urge to smack the horse hard enough to make him fall over and sighed, he smacked lightly, the horse gave a jerk and let go of him, for which he sighed and relaxed.

Kakashi smiled, "Alright my troops, let's mount-up!"

Pansk – I hope you like the second chapter of the story, it's a bit shorter than the first. But it'll do I suppose for now! R&R please people!

Naruto – Sasuke is scared of horses?

Sasuke – I am not!

Kakashi – Aw, it's alright little Uchiha genin. Every ones scared of something. grins

Sasuke – Really? glare What are you scared of?

Kakashi – Right now? Iruka…edges away from Chuunin