"Alright, that's it for the morning classes." Teacher Ibuki clapped his hands and glanced at the sun outside the window. "Everyone go wash your hands now; lunch will be delivered shortly."
The classroom immediately became bustling with activity.
Shin-chan's eyes lit up. "Lunch!"
He hadn't managed to eat a chocolate bar this morning, and after refining that "Chakra" stuff just now, his stomach had been growling for a while.
While washing his hands, Shin-chan made a point of scrubbing them twice and even washed his face while he was at it.
Uchiha Che watched from the side, stunned, and couldn't help but ask, "Are you really looking forward to lunch that much?"
"Of course." Shin-chan shook the water off his hands. "I'm currently in a state of 'crying out for food'."
"You know how to use idioms?" Uchiha Che was somewhat surprised.
"Mom taught me." Shin-chan shook his head proudly. "She also taught me 'to wolf down food', 'to clear the table like a whirlwind', and 'to have to take the consequences'."
Uchiha Che was silent for two seconds. "The last one doesn't seem like an idiom."
"Really?" Shin-chan tilted his head. "But Mom says it every time we go to the BBQ restaurant."
The two returned to the classroom to find a tray already placed on everyone's desk.
The wooden tray was divided into several small compartments: one for rice, one for miso soup, one for fried fish, and another...
Shin-chan's smile froze.
In that compartment were green peppers, bright green, neatly sliced, and emitting an odor he utterly loathed.
...
Shin-chan plopped back into his chair, arms crossed, with an expression on his face as if he had seen his arch-nemesis.
Uchiha Che sat down beside him, looked at his own tray, then at Shin-chan's. "What's wrong? You don't like green peppers?"
"It's not that I don't like them." Shin-chan's voice was low.
"Then what is it?"
"They're my enemies."
Uchiha Che: "..."
Shin-chan pointed at the slices of green pepper, his expression as serious as if he were analyzing enemy intelligence.
"Even though they're green and look harmless, they are traitors to the vegetable world. They clearly look like chili peppers but aren't spicy; they clearly want to be vegetables but have a weird smell. They've deceived everyone."
Uchiha Che opened his mouth, unsure of how to respond for a moment.
Shin-chan stared at the slices of green pepper as if engaged in a grueling battle. After a long time, he took a deep breath, picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a slice of green pepper, and held it up before his eyes.
The green pepper glistened in the sunlight, as if saying to him: *Come on, eat me.*
Shin-chan's hand began to tremble, and then he looked at Uchiha Che. "Have you heard the legend of the green pepper?"
"What legend?"
"There was a Ninja who, while on a mission, was poisoned by the enemy. There was no antidote for that poison, and the only way to survive was to eat a hundred green peppers. That Ninja preferred to die rather than eat them."
Shin-chan put down his chopsticks, his expression tragic. "Later, people called him 'The Tough Guy Who Doesn't Eat Green Peppers.' I feel like he's a long-lost relative of mine."
Uchiha Che's lip twitched. "You're making that up, aren't you?"
"It's true." Shin-chan looked dead serious. "I even know his final words: 'Tell my children, green peppers are not for eating. If you eat them, you lose.'"
A soft chuckle came from the corner.
Shin-chan turned and saw Kakashi holding a tray and looking over, his visible eye seeming to crinkle slightly.
"What are you laughing at?" Shin-chan asked.
Kakashi shook his head solemnly. "I'm not laughing."
Shin-chan stared at him for two seconds, then looked back at his tray, his expression instantly collapsing.
Uchiha Che whispered from the side, "How about you close your eyes and eat it, just imagine it's not a green pepper but something else."
"Imagine it as what?"
"Imagine it as an apple?"
Shin-chan thought about it, picked up a slice of green pepper, closed his eyes, and hypnotized himself: "This is an apple, this is an apple, this is an apple..."
He opened his mouth and bit down.
Chew.
Chew.
Then he opened his eyes and looked at Uchiha Che expressionlessly.
"How is it?" Uchiha Che asked expectantly.
Shin-chan slowly put down his chopsticks. "I just ate a mouthful of green pepper-flavored apple."
"..."
"It's still a green pepper."
Uchiha Che facepalmed.
Beside them, Rin suddenly leaned over and smiled gently. "Shin-chan, why don't you give the green peppers to me? I like eating them."
Shin-chan was stunned, looking at Rin's gentle smiling face.
Then he shook his head and refused seriously. "No, I can't give things I hate to others. Mom said people who do that are the worst."
Rin blinked, somewhat surprised.
This strange-looking boy could actually say something so sensible?
Shin-chan continued, "Besides, if someone helps you eat green peppers, they'll have nightmares at night."
Rin: "..."
Uchiha Che: "..."
Guy suddenly stood up, gave a thumbs up, and his eyes filled with tears. "Shin-chan, this is Youth!"
"Right?" Shin-chan also gave a thumbs up. "Youth is not eating green peppers."
The two held their thumbs against each other, a scene both bizarre and hot-blooded.
Teacher Ibuki watched this scene from the podium and rubbed his temples.
This kid... is he a genius or an idiot?
In the end, Shin-chan still didn't eat the green peppers.
He picked out the green peppers slice by slice, neatly lining them up on the edge of the tray, and then ate all the meat slices, all the rice, all the miso soup, and all the fried fish.
Finally, looking at those few lonely slices of green pepper, he pressed his hands together and muttered:
"I'm sorry, I know you worked very hard to become a dish, but I really can't eat you. May you find your true selves in the trash can."
Uchiha Che watched the whole thing from the side, his expression shifting from shock to numbness.
"Do you do this every time?"
"Yeah." Shin-chan nodded. "Mom says I'll eat green peppers one day."
"Do you think that day will ever come?"
Shin-chan thought about it seriously. "Maybe after I become Hokage."
"Why?"
"Because once I'm Hokage, I can order the elimination of all green peppers."
Uchiha Che was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Well, good luck then."
Shin-chan grinned. "Che, you have to work hard too. When I become Hokage, I'll appoint you as the Green Pepper Minister, specifically to handle all the green peppers for me."
"I don't want to be that kind of minister."
"How about the minister of chocolate bars?"
Uchiha Che thought about it and felt that this seemed okay, so he nodded. "I can consider that."
The afternoon sun spilled through the window into the classroom, shining on the two five-year-olds.
One was planning his path to becoming Hokage, with the core political platform being the "elimination of green peppers."
The other had been forced into becoming the minister of chocolate bars and was seriously considering the scope of power for this position.
In the corner, Kakashi finished his last bite of food, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over that small red figure.
"'Go further than being clever.' What exactly was Dad talking about?" he wondered silently to himself.
But that figure... he seemed to have already remembered it.
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