Chōji Akimichi

is partners with Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara, under the command of Asuma Sarutobi. Shikamaru has been his best friend since before their time at the Ninja academy.

Background
Choji Akimichi is a loyal and kind-hearted member of Asuma Sarutobi's Team 10, consisting of himself, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka who proves himself throughout the series to be a good friend and genuinely nice person. Choji, Shikamaru and Ino call themselves the "Ino-Shika-Cho Trio," just like their fathers before them.

When Choji was younger, he was often put down for not being good at a game called "Ninja," which appears to be a cross between tag and hide and seek, often using shuriken made out of cardboard. His peers were always berating him; telling him that any team that he is on is bound to lose. One day they simply refused to let him play at all. However, Shikamaru sticks up for him saying that the teams would be uneven if Choji doesn't join them. This gives Choji a little hope, although in the end they still refuse to let him play.

Choji and his father are later seen talking on the roof of a building, the former still upset over the way he was treated by the other children. His father tells him that one day he will meet someone that he can get along with and that eventually they will be the best of friends. Soon after, Shikamaru walks up the stairs and Choji recognizes him as the one who had defended him earlier. He asks Shikamaru why he isn't playing the game, to which Shikamaru responds that it was too troublesome. He then tells Choji that he likes to come up there to watch the clouds, and that Choji happens to be sitting in his spot. Choji moves over to give him room and Shikamaru proceeds to lie down, who tells Choji that he should watch the clouds with him. This delights Choji and he eagerly asks Shikamaru if he wants to eat some snacks that he has brought. Shikamaru takes him up on the offer, causing Choji to be overjoyed since someone is being so nice to him. From that day forth, the two became the best of friends. The two are seen talking with each other in Sasuke's flashbacks, with laid-back attitudes about life and ninja training in contrast to Sasuke's drive to surpass his brother.

Personality
Choji is easily motivated by the prospect of food and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls him fat (he refers to himself as "big boned," "chubby," or "pleasingly plump"). However, he does not hide his love for food, wearing the kanji for "eat" on his shirt. His nigh-constant hunger is also a constant annoyance for his teammates, as sating himself often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork. Choji's favorite foods are Korean barbeque, snacks and sweets, though he enjoys anything that is edible just as well. His favorite hobby is buying snacks and his favorite phrase is "Meat."

Choji and Shikamaru
Choji has a longstanding friendship with Shikamaru Nara. The two have complete trust in each other, with Shikamaru being one of the few people to look past Choji's athletic deficiencies and see that he was good-hearted and recognized Choji's true strength. Because of this, Choji has unconditional faith in Shikamaru and, if necessary, would give his life for him.

Chunin Exam arc
During the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Choji was reluctant to join his team in helping Sakura Haruno fend off a team of Sound Genin, fearing for his own safety and continuously asking to run. When Zaku Abumi called Choji "fatso", Choji proceeded to go berserk as he proclaimed that he was just big-boned (in the Viz translation, Choji cried out that he's pleasantly plump) and yelled that Konoha and the Sound ninja were now at war. Properly motivated, Choji was motivated to fight against the Sound Genin, but were unable to defeat them. His actions, however, bought time until Sasuke Uchiha awakened and forced them to retreat with the power of the cursed seal.

In the preliminaries of the exam, Choji began feeling hesitant about fighting, but Asuma convinced him to fight, promising to barbecue if he won, and to intervene if he was in danger. In the last match of the preliminaries, Choji was matched against Dosu. At the start of the match, Ino yelled to him that he's fat so that he'll be spurred into fighting. Using his Human Bullet Tank to charge at Dosu, Choji got lodged in a wall as a result of Dosu dodging the attack. With Choji unable to fight back, Dosu sent a blast of sound into Choji's bulk, its effectiveness increased as a result of Choji's increased size, thus defeating Choji. As a reward to Choji for getting so far in the Chunin Exams, and as a bribe to help with Shikamaru's training, Asuma took Choji to a buffet, but Choji ate too much and hurt his stomach, forcing him to spend some time in the hospital. He recovered in time to watch Shikamaru and Sasuke's matches, but was rendered unconscious by Kabuto's genjutsu, and was not awakened.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Shortly after Shikamaru's promotion to Chunin, the team celebrated at Yakiniku Q. After a brief argument over the meat, Asuma told Choji that he should eat less and train more. While Choji was briefly depressed, Shikamaru convinced him to be himself.

When Sasuke Uchiha abandoned Konoha, Shikamaru asked Choji to join the Sasuke Retrieval Squad, to which Choji refused. Determined to have Choji come with them, Shikamaru and Naruto Uzumaki eat some of Choji's favorite snacks in front of his house. When they got to the last chip, Choji burst through the front door to eat it, saying that the last chip was always the best. Having fallen for Shikamaru's trick, Choji joined the team to retrieve Sasuke.

At the start of the mission, Choji took on the Sound Four member Jirobo. Jirobo initially proved to be too strong for Choji to beat, forcing Chōji to use the Akimichi clan's special. The pills, colored green (spinach), yellow (curry), and red (pepper), gave the user increasingly large boosts of chakra at the cost of health, with the red pill said to be fatal to the consumer. After consuming the red pill, Choji's physical appearance changed dramatically from the rapid conversion of fat into chakra. This increased his strength a hundredfold, in addition to sprouting a pair of butterfly-shaped wings made of pure chakra, greatly increasing the chakra at his disposal.

During Choji's battle with Jirobo, Jirobo constantly mocked Shikamaru as well as Choji, calling Shikamaru a selfish and uncaring leader, and frequently referring to Choji as "trash." Jirobo near-constantly also called Choji fat, and said that Shikamaru and the others had been looking for an excuse to leave Choji behind. He also ate the last chip of Choji's bag, making Choji very angry. These factors, especially Jirobo's remarks about Shikamaru, caused Choji to consume the red pill. Choji knocked Jirobo down and, after saying that he could not forgive anyone who insults Shikamaru, sent all his chakra into his fist and delivered a killing punch to Jirobo.

After defeating Jirobo, Choji managed to keep himself going for a short while, due to the friendship of his teammates, who had faith that he would defeat Jirobo and had etched directions onto tree trunks so that he could catch up. When Choji finally collapsed, the Nara clan's medical guide and Tsunade's medical expertise allowed Choji to evade death and made a full recovery.

Anime filler arcs
Choji appeared for a few of the anime's filler arcs, one of which was to help rescue the daughter of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar owner. To save the daughter, Choji and his teammates were forced to create the perfect ramen, to which Choji assisted by tasting the noodles and improving their quality when they didn't meet his approval and later using his Partial expansion jutsu on his hands to give him a better way to fold the noodles. During the course of another arc, Choji was teamed with Naruto in fighting a water user, and the two were frequently able save the life of the other. After Hinata defeated the second of the three ninjas, and was badly injured in the process, Naruto sent her away with Choji. The two were captured, but Shizune, Shikamaru and several ninjas saved them. Choji made a number of cameos in other arcs, often aiding his fellow Genin in accomplishing missions.

Sasuke and Sai arc
Choji made his Part II debut sporting a red top with armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs similar to his father. On the front of his chest armor is the obligatory kanji for "eat". His hair had grown longer, and he now looks less obese and more muscular, just like what he himself had always claimed: big-boned. Like most of the rookie nine, he had reached the Chunin rank. Choji had also improved his skills during the timeskip, and was now able to enlarge various parts of his body without much concentration. His reaction time had also increased, being able to immediately prevent an attack by Sai from harming Shikamaru or Naruto.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
Choji arrived with Ino as backup for Shikamaru and Asuma in their fight with Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu. As the Akatsuki pair fled due to their arrival, Choji prepared to take the fatally injured Asuma back to Konoha for treatment. Asuma, however, knew that he wouldn't make it back to Konoha, and gave some parting words to his team. To Choji, Asuma said that he is a kind hearted boy who thinks about his friends, and therefore, may be a stronger ninja than anyone else and to simply believe in himself. Asuma also told Choji to diet a bit more, and Choji said that while it is difficult, he would try. After smoking one last cigarette, Asuma died, leaving Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino to set out in an attempt to avenge him.

When the remaining members of Team 10 found Hidan and Kakuzu, Choji attacked the two with his Spiked Human Bullet Tank, its effectiveness increased with his new ability to grow and sharpen his hair. Later, when Kakuzu's masks charged at Choji and his team, Choji coupled his Multi-Size Technique with Mega Palm Thrust to crush the masks and keep them at bay. His attempt was unsuccessful, and Kakuzu was able to pin him down. Later, after Naruto arrived and defeated Kakuzu, Choji returned to Konoha with the rest of his team, noting that Naruto's defeating Kakuzu made him "cool," even if not as much so as Shikamaru.

Pain's Invasion
When Pain began his invasion, he along with Shino, Kiba, Ino, and Hinata saw the devestation. Choji and his dad arrived at the scene of Kakashi's and Pain's fight, stunning Pain's fifth body, Asura Path, with Multi-Size Technique. After stunning the fifth body, Pain's first body, Deva Path, launched a attack on them but stopped by four other ninja`s who attacked him. Pain's Deva Path deflected all attacks and dodged Choji's kunais. After Kakashi threw a smoke bomb at Pain, so he, Choji, and Choza could hide behind a wall, Kakashi explained about Pain's abilities. Choji and his dad used Human Bullet Tank at Pain's Deva Path who deflected their attacks. After being deflected by him, Choji and Choza picked up the chains Kakashi had placed in the ground, capturing Pain's Deva Path, leaving him open for attacks. Kakashi used Lightning Blade to try to kill Pain's Deva Path, but his Asura Path protected the first body as an human shield. After Pain's Asura Path was killed, his Deva Path used his abilities to deflect everything around him stunning Choji and his dad.

Choji later awakened to find his seemingly dead father, and was told by Kakashi to mourn later, as his mission was to bring the information about Pain back to Tsunade. After reporting to Tsunade the new knowledge of Pain's abilities, he was tearfully relieved to find out that his father was still alive. He was then ordered to bring his father and Kakashi to the hospital immediately. Before going, he asked if Kakashi is alright too, but receives no answer.

Abilities
As an Akimichi, Choji knows various secret jutsu that allow him to expand body parts to several times their normal size, the most common of which is the Multi-Size Technique. He uses this to perform his Human Bullet Tank attack, where he turns himself into a giant ball and attacks opponents by running them over, shouting "roll" repeatedly as he does. In the anime, Choji has mentioned that he trains on his own.

Trivia

 * While Ino has regularly ridiculed Choji for his excess wait, in one filler arc, Ino also stated that his weight is essential to effectively use his clan's secret techniques.
 * Choji's appearance in Shippuden seems to emulate his father.
 * The way Choji's headband was worn during Part I lead many fans to give him the nickname of "painty-head".

Creation and conception
"Chōji" means "butterfly (Chō-)" and "the second son (-ji)" added together. Butterflies are insects known to eat sweets. Chōji also manifests butterfly wings made of chakra after eating the third red pill during his fight against Jirobo. The names "Ino", "Shika" and "Cho" are also a pun on the "Ino-Shika-Cho" winning combination in Hanafuda.