Chōchō Akimichi

is a kunoichi and a member of Konohagakure's Akimichi clan. Together with her teammates Inojin Yamanaka and Shikadai Nara, she forms the seventeenth generation of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio.

Background
Chōchō is the only child of Karui and Chōji Akimichi. As her parents continued to stay close to their childhood friends over the years, Chōchō ultimately came to know the various parents' respective kids well. From a young age, Chōchō would often have sleepovers with Inojin and Shikadai, even having matching pyjamas. Their parents would also continue Asuma Sarutobi's tradition of taking the kids to Yakiniku Q to celebrate accomplishments. In the anime, when she was younger, Chōchō had very high fever. Her parents worked earnestly to get a special medicine for her, which caused Chōji to trim down so much that Chōchō didn't recognise him, making her have lingering doubts about her parentage. On the day of the Seventh Hokage's inauguration, Chōchō attended the ceremony with her parents, where she ran into Sarada Uchiha.

Personality
Like her father, Chōchō never turns down an invitation when it comes to food. This is evident when she skips her training with her fellow Ino–Shika–Chō members in favour of going to eat with her sensei, Anko Mitarashi. Rather than feeling guilty for this, Chōchō displayed indifference to the consequences. In stark contrast to her father, who was always quick to rile when his weight was brought up, she was easily able to brush off being called fat. Her weight, in fact, doesn't seem to bother her at all, rather, Chōchō appears to be quite confident and self-assured — a trait she perhaps inherited from her mother.

A few years later, however, Chōchō started to become conscious about her appearance, and would actively try to lose a few pounds, only to fail upon seeing her father's excessive eating habits. This, coupled with her own mother having no problem with weight, has humorously caused Chōchō to believe she is adopted. She became impulsively convinced that any random adult she would find impressive is possibly her real parent. Ironically, upon approaching Chōji's slimmer form after using his Calorie Control, she approached him in the same manner. Having chosen to walk down her own path, Chōchō believes in doing everything at her own pace. She seems to be somewhat self-centred, as she thinks that many situations and events revolve around her. Chōchō also possesses a competitive nature, challenging her father to frequent eating contests.

She is also a romantic at heart, delighting in a good love story and hoping to find love herself. Despite her rather eccentric nature, Chōchō is also a very caring friend and kind girl who shows great concern and esteem for her best friend Sarada while taking time to assist others in ways she believes are helpful when they are in trouble. Like many others in her generation, she admires the Seventh Hokage.

Appearance
Chōchō is a dark-skinned girl with amber-coloured eyes and a noticeably heftier physique, similarly to most people of her clan. She inherited her father's brown hair (portrayed as orange (or blonde) in the Boruto manga), which she styles in two spiky ponytails, kept back with a pink hair-band. The rest of her hair is left hanging down behind her back, with her bangs hanging over her left eye. She was first seen wearing a sleeveless red shirt, and white pants. Chōchō later upgraded her attire, donning a sleeveless white kimono with a net t-shirt under it, a yellow sash, tied with a dark-yellow ribbon, a pair of black arm warmers, and a pair of black long shinobi boots. As customary of her clan, both of her ears are pierced by grey stud earrings. However, unlike the rest of her clan, she lacks the Akimichi facial markings. In the Boruto: Naruto Generations manga, Chōchō is seen wearing a small necklace and a single red bead bangle along with another bangle around her right wrist.

In her Academy days, Chōchō was seen wearing a sleeveless pink kimono, with a net t-shirt under it, a red sash with butterfly decorations tied around her waist, a pair of black arm warmers and regular shinobi sandals.

Ninjutsu
Chōchō is a practitioner of Lightning Release, able to perform the technique. In the anime, she is able to effectively perform Cooperation Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu, able to use both to restrict a person's movements and expand the might of this alongside fellow users.

Akimichi Clan Techniques
As a member of the Akimichi clan, Chōchō is able to convert her calories into chakra to use for various body-expanding hiden techniques. Before graduating from the Academy, she was already able to use the Partial Multi-Size Technique. In the anime, by using her enlarged fists to deliver powerful punches to the ground, she can smack the debris at her opponent to use as a ranged assault. By the time of her Chūnin Exams, Chōchō had mastered more advanced techniques of her clan, such as the Multi-Size Technique and Human Bullet Tank. While her physical power is decreased, she is able to use Butterfly Mode for extended periods of time without using the clan's Three Coloured Pills at all. Originally, this reduced power came from Chōchō subconsciously not expending all her calories, keeping her transformation incomplete. However, later learning about how the technique is powered by drive, she learned to perfect it, properly increasing her power in this state.

Academy Entrance Arc
In the anime, two weeks into the Academy, Chōchō was left amazed at how reckless Boruto Uzumaki was compared to his father, and asked Sarada whether she knows him. Later, she joined the rest of the class to watch the fight between Boruto and Iwabee Yuino, after which Chōchō teased Sumire when she expressed her happiness with how Boruto was able to get along with the classmates. During a class introducing students to summoning techniques, Boruto and Sarada got into another argument, which sparked an argument between all the boys and girls. During lunch break, Chōchō bought nearly all the yakisoba buns, which sparked another fight between Sarada and Boruto over the last one. Shino appeared, insisting that they boys and girls settle things with a race challenge for a flag. The challenge quickly got heated, leading to a desperate Boruto using a summoning scroll and miraculously summoned a snake-like creature. The creature went on a rampage, attacking the students and launched Chōchō off the roof, to which Boruto managed to save her with the help of some other students. After the creature was subdued by the timely arrival of Konohamaru, the contest ended with the girls getting the flag. Despite their victory, the girls made peace with the boys.

Later, the class gained a new transfer student from Otogakure named Mitsuki. Wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organised a welcoming party for the new student. Chōchō quickly began digging into the food. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his Wind Release: Breakthrough, causing even more damage to the Academy. When one of the repairmen went berserk and started to destroy the Academy, while her classmates went into actions, Chōchō decided to stay behind and "guard" the potato chips.

Later, Sumire realises that she is being stalked. Eventually, Chōchō and her friends discover that it is Magire Kakuremino a shy student from a different class. When Chōchō assumed that he was interested in her, Magire quickly denied it and accidentally admitted his feelings towards Sumire. Chōchō insisted that he be more forward with his feelings. When Magire meekly asks her out, Sumire turned him down, leaving him distraught and running away in shame. The following day, various creepy messages are left for Sumire. While Chōchō and the others decide to watch over her, they are systematically separated from Sumire. Eventually, the perpetrator is revealed to be a possessed Magire, who kidnaps Sumire. Chōchō and the others soon find them, where Magire quickly attacked them with his concealment skills. Eventually, Chōchō was able to reach Magire, noting that such an indecisive nature will never win anyone over. Accepting his poor methods of trying to make Sumire like him, the spectre was rejected from Magire. As Magire began to apologise for his actions he fainted, resulting from severe chakra drain caused from his possession. The group then quickly take him to the hospital.

Later, the class was assigned by Shino to split into groups of three and each tail a different workplace for a few days to better understand non-shinobi life. Chōchō convinced Sarada to check out both the nail salon and the pastry factory. The following day, Chōchō angrily went to the post office, noting that her special order of a limited-edition potato chip was suppose to arrive the day before. It was soon deduced that Boruto's sloppy delivery of mail was behind this. Later, Chōchō checked on some of her friends after learning that they were hospitalised from a recent attack. Afterwards, she was recruited by Shikadai to go after the culprit. She and her friends the met up at the post office to discuss their plan. After splitting up to patrol the village, the culprit of the attacks unleashed their Shadow Spectre on the post chief Komame. Chōchō's group however quickly appeared, having anticipated this move as all their recent efforts were clearly being spied on. While half the team stayed to save the possessed Komame, Chōchō's half pursued the masked culprit. While the post chief was saved, the spectre and the culprit ultimately got away.

Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams for their next challenge to determine the optimum pairings for graduation. Chōchō decided to team up with Inojin and Shikadai. When Iwabee noted that they were essentially forming the Ino-Shika-Chō trio like their respective parents, the team admitted that their techniques were naturally compatible. Chōchō also noted that good teams don't need to be friends, only work well together. During their challenge to capture a flag, Shikadai took advantage of Lee's social-anxiety, noting how everyone was watching him. While Lee froze up, Chōchō quickly knocked him out. Shino was then called aside concerning Sumire. As the class began discussing rumours that Sumire was being transferred to a different school, they were relieved to see her return to their class.

Chōchō met Sarada while she was looking for a lost parcel in the train and helped her retrieve it, eventually find it in a river.

After their sensei ended classes early due to the impending Five Kage Summit, Chōchō skipped her training with Inojin and Shikadai when Anko invited her to the dango shop to eat some anmitsu, despite Inojin's protests. She casually dismissed him even after being called fat and left.

Sarada Uchiha Arc
Upon hearing that her class will be going through the graduation exam in a week, Chōchō was only interested in if it could help her lose some weight. Later, she met up with Chōji, who embarrassed Chōchō simply because of his choice of flavoured chips to walk around with. In a restaurant, Chōchō complained that her father's excessive eating is making it difficult for her to control her own eating habits when she's trying to lose weight, only to be further annoyed with her mother's "hands off" policy on the matter. Chōchō told Sarada that she believes she is adopted, due to how different she found herself to her parents, much to Sarada's humour as she was actually suffering from a possible discrepancy in her own parentage. Mitsuki simply told her that drama of this type is typical of a girl her age, but Chōchō ignored him and invited Sarada on a road trip to "find her real parents". Later, when Sarada began to tail Naruto, Chōchō followed her, still believing they are embarking on a journey to discover her "real parents" and even assumed that her "real father" might be good-looking.

As she learned that Sarada was looking for her own father as well and was going to follow the Seventh Hokage to do so, Boruto soon appeared with a lunch prepared by his mother for Naruto. As Naruto had already left the village, Sarada decided to use this as an excuse to meet up with Naruto and asked Boruto to let her deliver it. After it was agreed that Chōchō and Sarada would bring the lunch, the two quickly took off. Soon afterwards, they were ambushed by Shin. While Chōchō and Sarada were quickly overwhelmed, the two were soon saved by Naruto's timely arrival. After a quick display of the Seventh Hokage's might, Shin retreated and Chōchō was left in awe, hoping that maybe Naruto was her "real" father, much to Naruto's confusion. Deciding it would be safest to keep the two kunoichi with him, Naruto decided to let them join him on meeting with Sasuke Uchiha. Before setting out, Sarada gave him the lunch she promised to deliver, and then the three shared some bento.

Soon afterwards, Sarada went ahead under the guise of using the restroom while Naruto stayed to watch Chōchō catch her breath. Upon catching up with Sarada, they found her in the company of her estranged father, Sasuke, who Chōchō thought might be her real father simply because he was handsome. She then offered Sasuke her bag of chips to try and make up with his daughter. Later, Chōchō joined everyone in the search for Shin. When Sasuke activated his Rinnegan and prepared to take everyone with him in his Susanoo, Chōchō again admired Sasuke's abilities. In the new dimension, they ultimately found Sakura Uchiha engaged in battle with Shin. As Sasuke subdued Shin with Susanoo and checked on his wife's condition, Chōchō complained about Sasuke being Sarada's father and not hers. Chōchō then overlooked the battle against thousands of Shin clones.

After the Shin clones were defeated, Chōchō approached Sarada, voicing her amazement at her friend's strength and noted with surprise that Sarada's eyes had become similar to her father's. On their way back to the village, Chōchō expressed her annoyance at being unable to find her real father but finding Sarada's instead. However as they approached the village gates, Chōchō approached a man whom she felt was familiar and might be her real father. She was shocked to find out that it was actually Chōji, who had just got back from a mission with Ino Yamanaka. She then began questioning her father on how he had suddenly lost so much weight and asked if it was some sort of secret technique passed down through their clan. Now in awe of her father's weight loss, Chōchō demanded that he will begin training her the next day.

Naruto Shinden: Parent and Child Day
During the new Konohagakure holiday, Parent and Child Day, Karui was annoyed at both how lazy Chōji was being and that he ate all the sweets she specifically bought for the family to eat together, ultimately kicking him out of the house to think about his actions. As Chōchō's casual comments made Chōji begin fearing that he made Karui so mad that she would leave him, his daughter insisted that he must have some redeemable traits for Karui to have put up with him for so long. Convinced that it was his reputation as a competitive eating champion, he entered a food competition in the naive hope of impressing Karui. As he and Chōcho entered together, they were unknowingly being sabotaged by the promoters of the competition. As Boruto realised what was going on and helped even the playing field, one of the promoters used a technique to make the dumplings grow to immense sizes. As Chōji and Chōchō struggled to stop the growing dumplings, Karui joined her family in fighting them off to no avail. Ultimately, Chōji enlarged himself to eat all the dumplings and apologised for eating all the sweets before, realising that food should be shared with family. At the end of Parent and Child Day, Chōchō and her family enjoy sharing a meal together.

School Trip Arc
In the anime, to improve relationships with other villages and symbolically show the warring era was over, the Seventh Hokage set up an official class trip for the Academy to go to Kirigakure. Upon arriving, they were met with Kagura Karatachi, who was appointed by to act as the class' tour guide. The class was later taken to meet Chōjūrō, the Sixth Mizukage, who welcomed the class to the village.

Chōchō arrives late over having brought along numerous souvenirs.

Graduation Exams Arc
In the anime, taking up Shino's subtle offer to try stealing the test answers for the written portion of the Genin Exams, Inojin and his friends were able to pass the test. The next day, the students for set against Academy teachers and Kakashi Hatake during the twenty four hour practical portion of the exams. While the teachers would still evaluate the students' respective improvements, their true test was against the Hokage. As the test began, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio fought Anko Mitarashi alongside other students, which resulted in them all being defeated and captured. During the night, his classmates rescued the restrained students after they defeated Anko. Strategising, all the students transformed into copies of Boruto and attacked Kakashi, during which they got into position to restrain him so Boruto could grab his bell. During their struggle, the exam reached its time limit. Despite not getting the bell, Kakashi chose to pass everyone as they succeeded in the test's true goal; team-work and loyalty. Having become a genin, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio was placed on Team 10 under Moegi Kazamatsuri's leadership.

Genin Mission Arc
In the anime, the Seventh Hokage personally assigned Team 10 their first mission, which involved chauffeuring around a client. During the mission, she walked around Konoha while chatting with the client. During another mission, Team 10 was tasked with clearing rocks off the Thunder Rail.

Byakuya Gang Arc
In the anime, with the continued thefts performed by the Byakuya Gang throughout Konoha, Team 10 was assigned alongside other genin teams to help stop the thieves. However, they weren't permitted to engage the gang without aid from a higher-ranked shinobi. When protesters began accusing the Kaminarimon Company of corrupt practises, Team 10 was tasked with being stationed at a key point during the protest. When Shikadai ran off during their assignment, Chōchō and Inojin followed him, during which they are joined by Boruto and told that he believed the Ninjutsu Research Centre was being targeted by the Byakuya Gang. Arriving at the institute, the genin discovered it was robbed, and given a way to track the thieves by Katasuke Tōno. Catching up to the gang, Chōchō and Inojin faced the majority of the group while Shikadai and Boruto chased after Gekkō and Ryōgi. Defeating all but one of the thieves, Shikamaru Nara arrived and defeated the final member. Acknowledging that it was an urgent situation, Shikamaru let the pair off the hook for engaging in battle, much to their relief.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
While shopping with her father, Chōchō was irritated to find that all the food on the shelves had been bought by Naruto's shadow clones. Later, Chōchō enters the Chūnin Exams alongside Inojin and Shikadai. The first round is a true or false quiz which turned out to be a sham as both answers were incorrect and every team was dropped into an ink pit. Shikadai, however, was able to use his shadow to prevent him and his teammates from falling into it, passing the first round. In the second round, the genin had to capture an enemy team's flag. While Chōchō went to retrieve one, Shikadai and Inojin guarded their respective flag. She successfully captures a flag, securing victory for her team. During the third round, however, Chōchō is defeated by Shinki.

Later, Chōchō happily watched the finals alongside her friends, which was a three-way battle between Sarada, Boruto, and Shinki. She and her team-mates cheered for Boruto when he defeated Shinki to win the tournament, but were very distraught when learning that he cheating used an advanced ninja tool, the Kote, which was deemed banned from the Chūnin Exams and thus was disqualified. When Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki appeared and began devastating the arena, Chōchō used her expansion techniques to help evacuate civilians.

Chōchō Arc
In the anime, as Chōji began teaching Chōchō more of their clan's advanced techniques, including the maxed-out calorie control skill Chōchō showed more interest watching a popular TV drama, particularly its lead actors Tomaru and Ashina. Determined to find love, Chōchō committed herself to maintaining her Butterfly Mode due to its slimmer appearance, despite the fact that her limited control of this state actually diminished strength. When the two lead actors of her favourite show received a death threat if they continued filming their show, Team 10 was assigned to protect the actors alongside Team 7. Chōchō and her team were assigned to watch Tomaru, much to her delight. Chōchō decided to put on a considerate but indifferent demeanour to get Tomaru to like her, which seemed to work. When the stage was attacked by a masked Ame-nin, the two Konoha teams defended the cast. While they initially pinned down the assailant, Chōchō moved into finish him with her Partial Multi-Size Technique, she at the last minute returned to her slim form, not wanting Tomaru to see her naturally plump form. This reduced performance let the assailant escape. Afterwards, one of the actors was injured. Tomaru suggested that Chōchō take the actress' place for the scene, much to Chōchō's bliss, seeing this as her chance for love.

As Tomaru's kindness towards Chōchō continued to sway her, he ultimately had her try on a prop dress to rehearse a scene together. After Mitsuki interrupted a kiss scene, she began lashing out at him for ruining her "moment of love". Her relentless anger ultimately made her changed back to her normal plumper self, ruining the dress. When Tomaru appeared again, not recognising Chōchō, he revealed to be a very vain and shameless man, only interested in the beauty of Chōchō's Butterfly Mode. Even more, he mocked Chōchō's plumpness. Despite this crushing Chōchō's feelings, she chose not to reveal the truth who she was, instead focus on finishing the mission.

Later, masked attacker managed to capture Tomaru while Chōchō went to get water for Ashina. A ransom was left that demanded 20 million ryō and for Ashina to be the one to deliver it. As Chōchō's friends continued telling her to stop focusing on how she looks as her continued usage of Butterfly Mode was weakening, Chōchō ignored their request. Ultimately, Mitsuki talked to her through her love of potato chips, noting that what matters is not the outside appearance, but the quality. During the exchange, as Konohamaru already captured the attacker and disguised himself as the Ame-nin, Ashina was revealed to be the mastermind behind the assaults as she desperately wanted to rekindle her fame as an actress. In a last blind effort to keep her fame by burying the truth, she attempted to blow up the area. While Konohomaru stopped her from using them, the explosive tags went off, causing a landslide. As Tomaru was in danger of be crushed, Chōchō dropped her Butterfly Mode and saved him. Afterwards, amazed by Chōchō's heroic display, he came to appreciate Chōchō for her, regardless of how she looked. While he offered to let her stay on as a regular for the show, she politely declined, wanting to live a life as the real her.

Mitsuki's Disappearance Arc
In the anime, after Mitsuki's apparent betrayal of Konohakagure, the village was put on lockdown. Despite this, Boruto and Sarada decided to sneak out to find Mitsuki. Team 10 was assigned to find and bring back the two genin. The following day, they managed to intercept them. As the two refused to come back peacefully, they created a distraction and then attempted a decoy with Boruto's shadow clones. This succeeded in splitting up Team Moegi between the jōnin and her students. Sarada and Boruto were soon intercepted by their friends, who through Shikadai's strategy easily anticipated Sarada and Boruto's tactics to quickly subdue them. While ready to take them back, Shikadai noticed the snake. Once learning that a message was left on it from Mitsuki, Shikadai realised that the situation had to many inconsistencies to brand Mitsuki a traitor. Wanting to find answers, Shikadai convinced his team-mates to help Boruto and Sarada.

Eventually, they found themselves in a foggy canyon. As they began wondering about aimlessly, they found a large palace, assuming that it must be the Ryūchi Cave. Inside, they found to their surprise a very lavished setting and were greeted by a beautiful young woman. Saying the White Snake Sage was expecting them, the woman invited them to a large feast. As the others began to enjoy themselves, the woman insisted that after they eat, they could ask the sage about Mitsuki. Boruto realised the woman was deceiving them as he never mentioned Mitsuki by name. The woman revealed herself to be a snake creature and the palace and food were but illusions to test the guests. Applauding Boruto's fortitude, she explained that to see the sage, one must past a series of tests, if they fail, the snake servants may eat the guests. As only Boruto wished to speak with the sage, Chōchō and the others were separated from him and knocked out. Ultimately, proving his resolve, Boruto passed the other tests.

Once Chōchō and the others were reunited with Boruto they met with the White Snake Sage, surprised to see that she was a small and frail-looking reptilian woman. While surprised that someone would risk meeting with her for something other than learning senjutsu, the sage insisted that she couldn't help give answers beyond mastery of senjutsu. Boruto refused to give up, begging the sage to reconsider. Giving in to Boruto's stubbornness, the sage agreed to help analyse Mitsuki's snake only if they first brought to her the Reverse Scale of the giant snake Garaga, who was located in the most dangerous part of the cave. Boruto and the group accepted.

In their journey through the cave, they found several massive stone snake statue before ultimately being attacked by Garaga. The genin attempted to hold their ground but were quickly overpowered by the massive foe. As the rampaging snake attacked Sarada, another massive snake appeared to stop him. After the genin retreated to safety, the other snake appeared again, revealing himself as Aoda, Sasuke's personal summoning. As Aoda made his peaceful intentions known the group explained their goal of acquiring Garaga's Reverse Scale on the request of the White Snake Sage to get her help in finding Mitsuki. Aoda was reluctant as Garaga's savage nature made all other inhabitants of Ryūchi Cave stay clear of him, but nonetheless agreed to help Sarada. Following Shikadai's plan, they were initially able to pin down Garaga through Chōchō's Super Multi-Size Technique and Aoda's constricting, until the rampaging foe used his spit to petrify Chōchō.

As Chōchō's friends continued their pursuit for the Reverse Scale, Boruto convinced the giant snake to enter a summoning contract with him on the grounds that if Boruto failed to make Mitsuki come back, Garaga could eat him. Garaga returned Chōchō to normal. After presented the Reverse Scale, still attached to Garaga, to the White Snake Sage, the sage revealed the secret thoughts inside Mitsuki's snake, revealing that Mitsuki feigned killing a guard to save his life. Still unclear why Mitsuki joined the attackers but knowing where he went headed off to the Land of Earth.

As the group began to approach the Land of Earth's border, Shikadai had Inojin and Chōchō to return to the village to report their findings. Along the way, the two found a group of jōnin paralysed on the field. They decided to investigate. Following this, Inojin and Chōchō turned back to help their friends. They arrived in time as they struggled against Kokuyō. The Ino-Shika-Chō trio decided to hold off the artificial man while Boruto and Sarada went on ahead. Despite their perfect team formations, the enemy was able to repel all of them. Ultimately, the trio was forced to retreat. The trio soon after caught up to their friends, where they learned of Mitsuki's betrayal upon attacking Boruto and leaving with the enemies.

After Boruto awoke, the group discussed whether to return to Konohagakure with their findings, or push forward to find the truth about these new enemies that posed a threat to the peaceful times. Ultimately, it was agreed to go venture on to Iwagakure and retrieve Mitsuki. Boruto suggested that go seek the help of Ōnoki. Upon arriving outside the village, it was decided that Inojin stay outside with the Akuta as to not draw any attention. Inside, they were soon spotted by Akatsuchi. He decided to help the genin as it may be related Kurotsuchi's sudden disappearance. They confronting Ōnoki, who once learning of their goal to find Mitsuki, turned dark and turned them away. The group was then surrounded by a bunch of Akuta, that were being controlled by Kū, the leader of the conspiracy in Iwagakure as well as Ōnoki's son and working alongside the retired Tsuchikage, much to everyone's horror.

As Ōnoki began explaining the nature of his plans and his genuine desire to protect people, realising that with his secret out in the open, he would have to accelerate his plans before the other Great Shinobi Countries learned. While Ōnoki told his son to gently takes the prisoners away, Boruto and the others chose to resist, and a fight ensured. As the battle escalated a massive column was knocked over towards Ōnoki. He was narrowly saved by Boruto, who then retreated while carrying the elderly man. While Shikadai was captured by the Akuta, Chōchō and the others scattered to escape. She soon after regrouped at the cave with Inojin and Sarada, surprised to learn that Boruto hadn't returned yet. They decided to wait and see how things played out.

Deciding that they waited long enough, the group decided to look for their friends. They instead found an injured Akatsuchi. They then noticed an explosion. Realising that it could be their friends, Inojin was chosen to take Akatsuchi back to the cave while Sarada and Chōchō went to investigate. The two kunoichi found Boruto battling Kakō, whose immense physical prowess and Dust Release was overwhelming Boruto. Chōchō and Sarada helped in the battle, desperate to avoid his Dust Release. Ultimately, Sarada found a time limit in the foes attacks and used it to counter. Kakō pushed his body past his limit to continue attacking, which ultimately overtaxed his body and died. Ōnoki, who was watching, was shocked to see how the artificial soldier attacked so recklessly and against his previous orders of not hurting the genin. Boruto insisted that despite the elderly man's belief, the Fabrications did indeed have free-will. Inojin arrived and subdued Boruto, as he was under Kirara's genjutsu. She then appeared with the Akuta and surrounded the Konoha-nin.

The genin were brought back with Akatsuchi to the village. Once arriving, they learned that all of Iwagakure was taken over by Kū as an extra measure to keep the outside world from learning of their plans. When contorting the second-in-command, he voiced his desire to transplant human hearts into the fabrications as it would sustain them. Ōnoki however refused on the grounds that it went against the purpose of his goal for saving lives. Deciding that Ōnoki was too sentimental to see the bigger picture, Kū usurped the Third Tsuchikage. Before Kū could move forward with his plan, Shikadai appeared, using a diversion to help his friends escape.

They were soon intercepted by Kokuyō. Chōchō and her team-mates decided to face the foe while Boruto and Sarada moved on. Kokuyō's advanced physical prowess quickly adapted to the Ino-Shika-Chō's previously shown attack patterns and forced them back. Using a plan of Shikadai, they were able to lead Kokuyō into a trap. While nearly working, the foe proved to strong and moved in to finish Inojin. Instead, Inojin was saved by the efforts of the tiny Akuta he had befriended and named Akkun. The creature's efforts let Chōchō land the final blow to finish their foe, but not before Akkun was struck down.

Ultimately, the Fabrications were defeated, thanks to the personal sacrifice of the Third Tsuchikage. While wanting to stay for the funeral, Naruto sent Chōchō and her friends back to Konohagakure, which Chōchō was dreading the confrontation with Moegi.

Konohamaru's Love Arc
In the anime, Chōchō joined Sarada and Boruto in seeing a romance movie, which Boruto mistook for being an action movie. Afterwards, Chōchō Sarada were baffled at Boruto's ignorance in love. Later, after Konohamaru began developing feelings for the noblewoman Remon Yoimura, she and Sarada pointed out the truth of it to Boruto.

One-Tail Escort Arc
In the anime, having some time off with Sarada, they decided to go on a gourmet tour together.

Time Slip Arc
In the anime, deciding to get rid of old clothing that they no longer used, Chōji and Chōchō decided to sell them at the flee market. To their dismay, no one was interested (oblivious to the fact that all their clothing was oversized). Later, Boruto and Sarada came by, hoping to find the Icha Icha books by Jiraiya in hopes understand his influence on Naruto. Concerned about such young kids reading such an adult book, Chōji simply said that the books were romance novels, which enticed Chōchō to join her friends in searching for them. Chōji however stopped them, saying that they were too young to read the books.

Later, Chōcho joined the other genin in testing out new surveillance equipment designed to follow their location. During the field test, Urashiki Ōtsutsuki was spotted in the area, Chōcho joined several other Konoha-nin in pursuing him. However, this turned out to be division by the alien, who placed a genjutsu on them to let him sneak into the village.

Some time later, after Urashiki was finally defeated, Sumire's transfer from her genin team to the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team came through. Chōchō joined her friends in a farewell party for the former class rep. They also met Sumire's replacement for Team 15, Tsubaki Kurogane a samurai student from the Land of Iron.

Following a mission where Inojin failed to have the confidence to use his Mind Body Switch Technique, Chōchō noticed his mellow demeanour and offered to help him in his training to master the technique. Inojin initially failed attempting to perform the technique on her but with Chōchō's help, he finally succeeded on using it on his parents. As a thank you, Inojin treated Chōchō to a meal, only to perform the technique on her following encouragement from their friends.

Mujina Bandits Arc
When Shikadai and his male friends began spending their mission earnings on collecting cards, Chōchō and Sarada found it ridiculous how the boys would waste their money.

Shikamaru Shinden: A Cloud Dancing in Forlorn Falling Petals
Chōchō watches a live broadcast of Naruto's speech at the Continental Summit with Inojin and Shikadai. She shares with them what her father told her: that Shikamaru accompanied Naruto to the Summit, and that without Shikamaru the Summit would end with war. Just as Chōji predicted, war is indeed averted. A few days later, Chōchō and her team are tasked with escorting the daimyō of the Land of Flowers from Konoha back to his country.

Kara Actuation Arc
In the anime, Chōchō was assigned with her team to join Team Shinki to search for Urashiki's remaining puppet in the Land of Wind. On the way to the mission, at Chōchō's insistence, the team decided to stop for a bit to eat, where they bumped into Deepa, who casually ignored them. Once inside the restaurant, they were horrified to see that everyone in it was slaughtered, wondering if Deepa was the one responsible. After reporting their finds to Sunagakure, Chōchō's team meet up with Shinki's team.

While Shikadai was the highest ranking ninja of the group as a chūnin, they decided to let Shinki lead the way as he knew the area better. Upon discovering the puppet, they were encountered by Deepa, who demanded to be given the puppet. When they refused, he pelted them with a barrage of carbon cubes that even Shinki's Iron Sand Wall couldn't completely block. Shikadai developed a strategy detain Deepa long enough for Shinki to strike. While seemingly working, Shinki's Black Iron Fist was completely ineffective against Deepa's super durable body, who swiftly defeated them. Shinki used the last of his strength to destroy the puppet rather than let Deepa have it, and he let them live.

After returning to the village and reporting what happened, Chōchō and Inojin were convinced by Shikadai to help Boruto in his training to defeat Deepa's durable body. Shikadai decided that the key was focusing Boruto's Rasengan's power on a key point. Despite their long hours of effort, they had little success. Ultimately, Chōchō decided to call it a day as she was getting hungry.

Later, after Boruto and his team's victory over Deepa, Chōchō and her friends found Denki setting up an experiment to improve radio communications. Chōchō and the others decided to help him with the work. It ultimately worked, but failed to maintain stability. Denki however remained determined to improve the technology. Chōchō joined everyone in cheering.

Ao Arc
In the anime, Chōchō attended the memorial service for the fallen people of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Later at the Training Hall, Chōchō watched Boruto fight the Seventh Hokage alongside other genin.

Kawaki Arc
In the anime, as Chōchō was picking taiyaki with Sarada for her and Chōji to have, she met Kawaki, mysterious boy connected to Kara that was under the care and watch of the Seventh Hokage. While noting that Kawaki was handsome, she found his attitude very sour. To lighten the mood, Naruto offered to treat everyone personally to the snacks of their choosing, with Naruto quickly regretting the offer as Chōchō ordered a massive amount.

Over time, as Kawaki began to warm up to Boruto and his friends, Chōchō developed a crush on Kawaki. She continued to watch from afar as the Hokage began teaching him ninjutsu, swooning over how quickly he mastered the basics of chakra manipulation. Later, after the village was infiltrated and attacked by Jigen, using Kawaki's Kāma as a portal to get in, the village was put on high alert. In the anime, Team 10 heard that a village archive was attacked and data was stolen. While talking with her friends about the event, Chōchō remained sure that the culprit had not left the village yet, and convinced her team-mates to investigate with her. They discovered the target's hideout, and also came across Kakashi, who was conducting his own investigation. Impressed by the genin's work, he decided to collaborate with them. They found the culprit, Koji Kashin, escaping into the sewer. Kakashi went alone while telling the genin to report to the officials. Shikadai realised that the sewers also connected to the Thunder Rail. Chōchō was able to narrowly launch her team-mates on the train on time, only for Koji to be a shadow clone. However, their report allowed Kakashi to see through Koji's deception and thwart his efforts, causing him to retreat.

Later, while the Ino-Shika-Chō trio were training, they were approached Kara's chief scientist, Amado. Finding him shady, the genin attempted to restrain him. Amado used his tech to easily repel Shikadai's technique and knocked him out with a drug. He strapped a bomb on Shikadai, which was set to go off in 48 hours. Sai and other Konoha-nin the appeared after alerted by Inojin. Amado asked to talk with Shikamaru, who was given communication via the Mind Body Transmission Technique. Amado stated firmly that he wished to defect to Konoha, offering his full intel on Kara and its resources, their Ten-Tails, and even on the Ōtsutsuki. Deciding to hear him out, Naruto ordered the man be brought in for questioning. In the anime, Inojin and Chōchō were assigned to watch over Shikadai in the meantime.

Following the defeat of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, Boruto was put indefinitely off activate duty to be monitored for his Kāma. Chōchō and her friends decided to talk about this, as they were all concerned about Boruto's future.

Chūnin Re-Examination Arc
In the anime, following Isshiki's attack, Naruto decided to host another Chūnin Exam to boost morale and promote more chūnin. Chōchō passed the first, written exam with Inojin's help, who passed her answers with his art. While she wasn't as invested in becoming a chūnin, since being on Shikadai's team meant she could already participate in higher rank missions, Shikadai reminded her that as chūnin she would receive higher pay during her missions, which she could spend on more food. During the second exam, she had to rescue an injured ally from the Forest of Death within an allotted time limit. Chōchō was able to do it, and was one of 10 genin to pass the exam, and would have to fight one of the other 9 in an one-on-one battle for the final exam.

The following day, Chōchō spent most of her day enjoying food and talking with her team-mates as Yakiniku Q. After realising how secretly important her and Inojin becoming chūnin was to Chōchō, she decided to train earnestly. Sarada further encouraged her.

During the final exam, Inojin was set to face off against Hōki Taketori, one of Sai's genin students. While Chōchō suggested that Inojin ask his father for advice against the opponent, Inojin said he didnt want a handicap. Chōchō and Shikadai then watched in the stands to cheer on their team-mate. Much to their disappointment, Inojin lost, but they were relieved that he was okay and in good enough spirits to prepare for the next exams.

Trivia

 * Her settei from before becoming a genin places her at exactly 150 cm tall, while her later settei from after becoming a genin shows her having grown slightly to 150.5 cm tall.
 * According to character trivia from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:
 * Chōchō's hobbies are eating contests and appreciating TV dramas.
 * Her favourite foods are just about anything.
 * Her least favourite foods are just about nothing.
 * Her attributes are: 70 in intelligence, 110 in negotiations, 120 in dexterity, 150 in strength, 80 in perception, and 145 in chakra.
 * She was also given a skill rating in these particular areas:
 * Mental Resistance: ★★★★☆
 * Drug Resistance: ★★★★☆
 * Unarmed Hand-to-hand Fighting: ★★★☆☆

Quotes

 * (To Mitsuki) "Hey, Mr. Know-it-all!! You don't know the first thing about the delicate and sensitive heart of a girl!"
 * (Reacting to Naruto's boast) "Wait a second… there's only one person who's the only top… This is beginning to sound a little fishy."
 * (Attempting to give Sasuke chips) "I don't have any other flavours except lightly salted… But if this doesn't patch things up between you guys, then I'm totally out of brilliant ideas!"