Break time always passes by quickly.
Teacher Ibuki led a group of children to the playground. "Today we are going to learn a basic physical training exercise: push-ups."
Shin-chan's smile immediately froze on his face. "Push... ups?"
"Yes." Teacher Ibuki nodded. "Push-ups can exercise your arms, chest, and core strength; it's a very important part of basic Ninja training."
Shin-chan sighed, looking completely deflated.
Teacher Ibuki found a spot and began to demonstrate.
"Watch closely. Keep your body straight, place your hands directly under your shoulders, inhale as you go down, and exhale as you come up. Come on, watch me do a few standard ones first."
He did ten cleanly and efficiently, his form as perfect as a textbook.
"Alright, now try it yourselves. Get into pairs and supervise each other."
The children dispersed, each finding a spot to lie down.
Shin-chan also lay down.
But his posture was a bit different from the others.
Everyone else had their bodies straight, hands on the ground, ready to start.
Shin-chan was lying flat on the ground, face against the grass, hands at his sides, looking like a sloth sunbathing.
"Shin-chan." Teacher Ibuki's voice came from a distance. "What are you doing?"
"I'm preparing," Shin-chan said dully.
"Preparing for what? Get up and do your push-ups."
Shin-chan slowly pushed himself up, but the posture was strange. His butt was stuck high in the air, his body forming an inverted V-shape, head down, backside facing the sky.
Teacher Ibuki was stunned.
The children nearby were also stunned.
Uchiha Tetsu was doing warm-up exercises nearby. Seeing this posture, he froze. "Shin-chan, what are you doing?"
"Push-ups, duh," Shin-chan said as if it were obvious.
"No, that's not a push-up at all!"
"Really?" Shin-chan tilted his head, arching his butt up even further. "But I think this posture is more comfortable."
"Comfortable?"
"Yeah, this way the sun can shine on my butt."
The corner of Uchiha Tetsu's mouth twitched, and he stopped talking.
Teacher Ibuki walked over, looking at Shin-chan's weird posture, his temple starting to throb again. "Nohara Shinnosuke, is this a push-up?"
"Yes." Shin-chan nodded. "The Butt Raised Style Push-up."
"What?"
"When I was training with Thick-Eyebrowed Uncle yesterday, I discovered many ways to do push-ups. This one is specifically for training the butt muscles," Shin-chan explained solemnly.
Teacher Ibuki opened his mouth, for a moment not knowing what to say.
Nearby, Guy was seriously doing standard push-ups, one after another, counting out loud.
"Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight..."
When he got to the twenty-ninth, he looked up and saw Shin-chan's posture.
His movement stopped.
His mouth fell open.
His eyes widened.
"Shin-chan," he exclaimed, "what kind of training method is this?"
Shin-chan turned his head to look at Guy, still maintaining that butt-up posture.
"The Butt Raised Style Push-up, a new style for training butt muscles."
Guy was stunned.
Butt-up? Training butt muscles? A new style of push-ups?
"Shin-chan!"
With tears in his eyes, Guy rushed over to Shin-chan, trembling with excitement.
"You've created a new style, the style of Youth!"
Shin-chan was startled by his reaction. "Really?"
"Yes." Guy nodded vigorously. "I never thought push-ups could be done like this. You've shattered my perceptions; you've shown me new possibilities for Youth."
Guy gave a thumbs-up, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "Shin Style: Butt Raised Style Push-up—this is proof of Youth."
Shin-chan blinked, then also gave a thumbs-up. "Right? I think this is very youthful too."
"Of course it's youthful," Guy said with tears in his eyes. "We must promote this style and make it flourish."
"Okay."
Two people—one lying with his butt in the air, the other standing and weeping—both gave a thumbs-up at the same time.
The scene was both bizarre and hot-blooded.
The children nearby were all dumbfounded.
Obito's mouth hung open, his jaw almost hitting the floor. "What... what are they doing?"
Rin covered her mouth and giggled. "How interesting."
Kakashi glanced over expressionlessly, then continued his own push-ups, though his visible eye seemed to crinkle slightly.
Uchiha Tetsu stood nearby, completely numb. He wanted to say something but didn't know what.
In the end, he could only silently turn back and continue his standard push-ups, pretending he didn't know those two.
Teacher Ibuki stood on the playground, watching the scene, and reached up to rub his temples.
"Nohara Shinnosuke!"
"Present."
"Can you please do a normal push-up?"
"Normal?" Shin-chan tilted his head. "Teacher, what do you mean by normal?"
"Like what everyone else is doing!"
"But what everyone else is doing only trains one kind of muscle. Mine can train different muscles," Shin-chan said seriously. "My mom said training should be comprehensive; you can't just train one spot."
Teacher Ibuki took a deep breath. "Your mom said that?"
"Mm-hmm, she also said the butt is very important and that I must never get constipated."
Teacher Ibuki closed his eyes, his posture slumping. "Then just keep practicing."
"Thank you, Teacher!"
Shin-chan stuck his butt up again and started moving up and down.
The movement looked extremely bizarre.
Guy watched for a while, then suddenly lay down as well, striking the exact same posture as Shin-chan.
"Guy, what are you doing?" Shin-chan turned his head to ask.
"I want to practice the Butt-Up Style too," Guy said, tears streaming down his face. "I can't let you burn your Youth alone!"
Two young boys with their butts in the air lay side by side on the ground, bobbing up and down.
The scene became twice as bizarre.
As Obito watched, he suddenly felt tempted.
"That... seems kind of interesting?"
But after looking at the classmates around him who were stifling their laughter, he eventually gave up the idea with a heavy heart, though his eyes kept drifting over while he did his push-ups.
Rin couldn't help but laugh out loud, then quickly covered her mouth.
Uchiha Tetsu kept his head down the whole time, pretending he hadn't seen anything, though the corners of his mouth kept twitching upward.
Teacher Ibuki stood at the edge of the playground, watching the two small figures with their butts in the air. He suddenly sighed and then smiled with a hint of helplessness.
This kid really is a troublemaker.
But because of him, this class would probably never be boring.
In the distance, Kakashi finished a set of push-ups, stood up, glanced at them casually, and whispered, "Idiot."
But in his visible eye, there seemed to be a hint of envy, though it was hard to say what he was envious of.
Perhaps it was that ability to completely ignore others' gazes and just be silly and happy.
On the playground, the push-ups of Youth continued.
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