Chōji Akimichi

is a member of Konohagakure's Akimichi Clan. Though sensitive about his weight, Chōji is nevertheless dedicated to his friends, especially in Team Asuma.

Background
Chōji was born into the Akimichi clan, and is slated to become the after his father, Chōza. When Chōji was younger, he was often put down for not being good at a child's game called "Ninja", which appears to be a cross between tag and hide and seek, often employing the use of shuriken made out of cardboard and sticks. His peers would always berate him, telling him that any team that he was on was bound to lose. One day, they simply refused to let him play at all. However, Shikamaru Nara stuck up for him, saying that the teams would be uneven if Chōji didn't join them. This gave Chōji a little hope, although, in the end, they still refused to let him play.

Chōji and his father were later seen talking on the roof of a building while Chōji was still upset over the way he was treated by the other children, saying the Akimichi were all fat and stupid. Comforting him, his father told him that few people have a heart as kind and caring as his, and one day he would meet someone who would see that in him and respect him for it, and that eventually they would be the best of friends. His father proved to be correct as soon after, Shikamaru arrived. Chōji recognised him as the one who had defended him earlier, and asked Shikamaru why he wasn't playing the game, to which Shikamaru responded that it was too troublesome. He then told Chōji that he liked to come up there to watch the clouds and that Chōji happened to be sitting in his spot. Chōji moved over to give him space. Shikamaru proceeded to lie down before telling Chōji that he should watch the clouds with him. This delighted Chōji, and he eagerly asked Shikamaru if he wanted to eat some snacks that he had brought. Shikamaru took him up on the offer, causing Chōji to be overjoyed, and then Shikamaru said "This is the best, watching clouds and eating chips". From that day on, the two became best friends.

During Chōji's time at the Academy, he was often caught eating in class otherwise getting into trouble along with fellow deviants Shikamaru, Kiba Inuzuka, and Naruto Uzumaki. Together, these four would cut class or otherwise be testing the patience of Iruka Umino, their Academy teacher. During the Search for Tsunade, when Naruto was struggling to learn the second step of training for the Rasengan, he recalled how once, during his days in the Academy, he, along with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto were held back in class, and lectured about their all around lack in concentration — in Chōji's case, he was thinking more about food than about doing his school work. During the arc involving the trap master Gennō from the long-gone Kagerō Village, it was mentioned how Shikamaru, Chōji, Kiba, and Naruto would skip class together and hang out at the kunai practice course, which was situated under the Academy, to hide from Iruka.

Personality
Chōji is a very kind, polite, and caring person. These characteristics are said to be his greatest strength by both his father Chōza and his former teacher Asuma Sarutobi while his greatest weakness was his lack of self-confidence. He 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") Asuma would say that he is just "pleasantly plump". However, he does not hide his love for food and his near constant hunger is also an annoyance to his teammates, as eating often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork. Food can also make him over-react about silly things, such as who gets the last chip, or when Akamaru tried to take his chips, and he refuses to let anyone else eat the last chip in the bag, even in battle-situation. Chōji also tends to eat a lot when he's angry. Since Part II of the series, however, his eating habits are more controlled and no longer interfere with his duties as a shinobi.

Chōji has a long-standing friendship with Shikamaru. The two have complete trust in each other, with Shikamaru being one of the few people to look past Chōji's lack of athleticism, and see that he had a kind heart; recognising Chōji's true strength. Because of this, Chōji has unwavering faith and loyalty to Shikamaru and, if necessary, would give his life for him, which nearly happened during his battle with Jirōbō. Chōji also cares deeply for his mentor, Asuma, and had a difficult time in fighting him during the Fourth Shinobi World War, due to not wanting to hurt his own teacher, even when Asuma called Chōji "fat" in an attempt to anger him.

As stated by his father and teacher, Chōji greatly lacked confidence in himself and his abilities which often times hindered his actions or even progression in some aspects. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, however, Chōji was able to overcome these issues and become one of the major contributing factors in the Allied Shinobi Forces turning the tide of the battle in their favour.

As an adult, Chōji is shown to be very laid back and jovial. He is also shown to be a loving husband towards Karui, and an extremely doting father towards his eccentric daughter Chōchō. However, he maintains a competitive side, with Chōchō frequently challenging him to eating contests. During her Chūnin exam, Chōji is shown to gleefully cheer her on while also expressing concern for her well-being when she faces the skilled genin Shinki.

Appearance
Like other Akimichi, Chōji has a rotund build and markings on his cheeks in the form of swirls. He has spiky, light brown hair that sticks upward in Part I and grows to waist-length in Part II. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Chōji cuts his hair short and sports a goatee, both of which grow further when he becomes an adult, with his hair slicked back and braided.

During Part I, Chōji donned a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a light-green shirt (white in the anime), with the kanji for on it. He also wore black shorts, hoop earrings, and bandages around his legs and forearms. His blue forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side. In Part II, Chōji sports a red suit with plated armour on his torso, arms, and upper legs, having the same kanji for on the front. He switches to a standard red forehead protector and replaces his hoop earrings with studs, a gift from Asuma Sarutobi. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he wears the standard Konoha flak jacket over his outfit.

In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Chōji's overall appearance slims down somewhat, being more plump as he considers himself. His outfit is mostly the same, but he wears larger wrist-guards and his boots reach his calves. Years later, Chōji's attire consists of elements from Parts I and II: a green haori over chest plate armour, brown pants with a red belt, bandages around his arms, and black sandals. He seems to have stopped wearing a forehead protector.

Abilities
Chōji's low self-confidence belied his great strength; he became agitated to fight an opponent mainly if they insulted him or his friends. It was during these instances that he proved to very strong, enough to defeat the Sound Four member, Jirōbō. His father Chōza, Shikamaru, and Asuma Sarutobi all believe that Choji's greatest strength is his kindness and concern for his friends, which the latter states could someday make him stronger than anyone. Chōji helps fight members of Akatsuki such as Kakuzu and Pain, though his self-confidence reaches its peak during the Fourth Shinobi World War: Chōza states Chōji is now worthy of being the Akimichi clan's sixteenth head, every ally and foe on the battlefield become astonished at his display of strength, and he defeats the reincarnated Kakuzu and Hizashi Hyūga.

Akimichi Clan Techniques
As an Akimichi, Chōji converts the calories he consumes into chakra, hence his husky physique and frequent eating habits. He uses the chakra he stores to perform the body-expanding Multi-Size Technique, allowing him to use the Human Bullet Tank to run down his opponents. He can increase the damage by wrapping spikes around his body, using either kunai or, in Part II, his long hair after he sharpens it. Chōji can expand other parts of his body to enhance his physical strikes, grab and crush targets, or make himself gigantic to smash them from above.

The Three Coloured Pills, when eaten, convert Chōji's own body fat into chakra, increasing his physical attributes and facilitating the use of his clan's more advanced techniques. After consuming the red pill, the large amount of chakra manifests into two massive butterfly wings on Chōji's back, making his power a hundredfold. Taking each pill damages Chōji's body, with the red pill not only emaciating the user's body, but also causing eventual death. Therefore, the pills are considered a last resort to use. However, Chōji survived thanks to the Nara clan's medical book and Tsunade's medical expertise. He overcomes these issues by Part II, using his own chakra to perform his clan's techniques without consuming the pills. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he becomes able to form the butterfly wings on his own, bypassing the pills' dangerous side effects.

Nature Transformation
Chōji's nature transformations include Fire and Earth Release, though he almost exclusively uses the Yang Release for his body-expanding techniques. With Earth Release, he could erect a rock wall to protect against attacks.

Physical Prowess
Naturally, Chōji has massive physical strength that he can combine with his clan's techniques to inflict powerful strikes on his opponent. When he manifests chakra butterfly wings, he can compress the chakra into his fist to use the Butterfly Bullet Bombing, powerful enough to kill a Cursed Seal Level 2-enhanced Jirōbō in one strike. His strength is necessary for important tasks, being selected as a member of the Sasuke Recovery Team and helping to restrain the Deva Path during Pain's Assault. Aside from strength, Chōji has great durability and speed, enough to survive being hit by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's chakra blasts and save Shikamaru from being stomped by the statue. In the anime, by adulthood, he is recognised as the physically strongest man in Konoha.

Chūnin Exams
During the first phase, he and his teammates met with their old classmates of Team 7 and Team 8 until the written exams begun. After Ino cheated off of Sakura's test answers using Mind Body Switch Technique, she went into Shikamaru and his body to pass on the answers to them. They ended up passing regardless because the true test was to overcome pressure and intensity.

During the second phase of the Chūnin Exams, Chōji was reluctant to join his team in helping Sakura fend off a team of Oto genin, fearing for his own safety, and continuously asking to run. However, when Zaku Abumi called Chōji "fatso", Chōji proceeded to go berserk as he defended his size, and yelled that Konoha and the Sound ninja were now at war. Properly motivated, Chōji fought against the Oto 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 of Heaven.

In the preliminaries of the exam, Chōji began feeling hesitant about fighting, but Asuma convinced him to fight, promising to treat him to barbecue if he won, and to intervene if he was in danger. In the last match of the preliminaries, Chōji was matched against Dosu Kinuta. At the start of the match, Ino Yamanaka yelled to him that he was fat, so that he would be spurred into fighting. Figuring Dosu's sound based attack won't work on him if he doesn't hear it, he uses the Multi-Size Technique and uses the Human Bullet Tank to charge at Dosu. After Dosu manages to avoid Chōji's attack a few times, Chōji gets lodged in a wall. With Chōji unable to get out the wall, Dosu takes the initiative of sending a blast of sound into Chōji's bulk, with its effectiveness increased as sound travels better through water. As a reward to Chōji for getting so far in the Chūnin Exams, and as a bribe to help with Shikamaru's training, Asuma takes Chōji to a buffet, but Chōji ends up eating too much and gains stomach pains, forcing him to spend some time in the hospital. He recovered in time to watch Shikamaru and Sasuke's matches, but was put to sleep during the ensuing invasion of Konoha.

Konoha Crush
Chōji can be seen at the Third Hokage's funeral alongside the other villagers, mourning his death.

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

When Sasuke Uchiha abandoned Konoha, Shikamaru asked Chōji to join the Sasuke Recovery Team, to which Chōji refused. Determined to have Chōji come with them, Shikamaru and Naruto Uzumaki ate some of Chōji's favourite snacks in front of his house. When they got to the last chip, Chōji burst through the front door to eat it, saying that the last chip was sacred and he cannot let someone else have it. Having fallen for Shikamaru's trick, Chōji joined the team to retrieve Sasuke.

At the start of the mission, Chōji took on the Sound Four member Jirōbō. Jirōbō initially proved to be too strong for Chōji to beat, forcing Chōji to use the Akimichi clan's special Three Coloured Pills. Although reluctant to use the pills, Jirōbō's constant mocking of Shikamaru as a worthless, selfish, and uncaring leader convinced Chōji to take all three pills. With the accompanying increase in strength, he was able to kill Jirōbō noting that while it was fine for people to mock him and even eat his food, it was unforgivable to speak ill of his best friend. With that Chōji sends a fist crashing into Jirōbō's stomach, killing the Oto-nin.

As he headed through the forest, suffering the effects of the pills and severely emaciated, Chōji sees the arrow left by his comrades, he collapses beneath it, and tearfully mused to his father that he had finally found good friends. Near death, Chōji was found by members of the Medic Corps and rushed back to the village for emergency treatment. With the efforts of the Nara clan's medical encyclopaedia which they had listed their research on their comrade's pills and their effects along with Tsunade's medical expertise allowed Chōji to evade death, and make a full recovery.

Academy Student Lead Mission
In the anime, Chōji was assigned to lead a team of three Academy students on a survival exercise. On route, Chōji imparted to them the importance of being able to acquire food during a mission, introducing a plant called the "Ninja-Aid Plant", which is edible and nutritious. Chōji even stopped one of his team from eating the wrong plant, the "Ninja Blockage Plant", even though it looked similar to the Ninja-Aid Plant, it was in fact noxious, and Chōji identified the difference between their leaves.

Mix it, Stretch it, Boil it Up! Burn Copper Pot, Burn!
In the anime, Chōji helped rescue Ayame, the daughter of Teuchi, from cooking-nin from the Land of Lightning. Chōji knew of them and explained to Naruto and Sakura that their purpose was to provide their country's active ninja with food, as on a mission in the field, where food may be scarce, gathering food was such a chore that cooking-nin were supposed to do this job themselves, allowing for the other ninja to focus on their mission and not worry about gathering food. To save the daughter, Chōji and his teammates were forced to create the perfect ramen, to which Chōji assisted by tasting the noodles and improving their quality when they didn't meet his approval.

Peddlers Escort Mission
In the anime, Chōji was teamed with Naruto in fighting a water-user, and the two were frequently able to save the life of the other. After Hinata defeated the second of the three ninja, and was badly injured in the process, Naruto sent her away with Chōji. The two were captured, but Shikamaru and several other ninja saved them.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
In the anime, about two years after Naruto left the village with Jiraiya for training, Konoha decided to host an early Chūnin Exams alongside Sunagakure. Later, as Team Asuma began discussing their joining the exams, it became noted that with Shikamaru already a chūnin and therefore ineligible to join, it left the rest of the team short. Ino came up with the idea of having Sakura be their team's third member. After Sakura accepted to join the team, once entering the exams, Chōji and his teammates were randomly split into different rooms to take the written test. He was placed in room 1 with Hinata and Neji. On a monitor, Shikamaru, as proctor, explained that everyone only needs to answer one question on the test, but their team's combined score must equal exactly 100 points to pass. Later, Ino telepathically contacted him and Sakura to make sure their score would be even. After time is up, Shikamaru reveals a bonus question that must be answered unanimously by each team which asks what member of their respective team would be chosen to be a decoy and the one picked will be disqualified. He was again contacted by Ino, telling him to leave the question blank on Sakura's orders. His team ultimately passes the first round. However, a preliminary round was issued to lessen the many partipants, involving a race to Sunagakure where only the first 30 teams to arrive at the destination would qualify for the second exam.

Ultimately, his team were among the first 30 teams to make it. The following night, as all the genin were ready to eat dinner, everyone grew nervous about the overly-sweaty Burami ruining the food, which caused the genin to quickly try to stop him, resulting in Neji using the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and accidentally destroying the food. As tension grew between everyone over the recent event, an all-out brawl began. Eventually everyone lost their desire to fight when Fū arrived with her optimistic ways. Later, while everyone returned to their rooms to prepare for the following day, an anxiously hungry Chōji decided to go to the next building in hopes that the jōnin supervisors would share their food. As Sakura and Ino went after him, they were all attacked by a giant scorpion. They were saved by the joyful Fū, who swiftly defeated the massive beast. After Chōji recieved food from Guy, everyone turned in for the night. The following day, the second exam began. Like the last exam in Konoha, the teams were each given either a Heaven or Earth scroll and were required to within three days to obtain a matching set. They were then required to bring the set to the main building in the centre of Demon Desert.

On the third day of the exam, Team Asuma lost their provisions in a previous fight. Following Sakura's decision, they went for an oasis to replenish themselves. Taking so long to arrive, Ino and Sakura got into another heated argument. Their bickering was quickly ended by the attack of another giant scorpion. While Ino didn't have enough time to use her clan techniques and the scorpion overpowered Chōji, Sakura surprised everyone by defeating the creature with a single punch. Afterwards, Ino healed Sakura's hand from the attack. With everyone calming down, they used the scorpion's meat as new provisions and commented on each other's growth, reasserting their desire to pass the exams.

Not feeling the provisions from the scorpion was enough, Ino insisted that the team go to the nearby oasis. Before arriving, they were cut off by a Suna-team to which, Ino attacked first, letting the enemies counter and pretended to be knocked out. While the enemies engage Sakura and Chōji, Ino senses the enemies' movements and telepathically informs her allies. Seeing through Ino's ploy, Shishio erects a barrier to disrupt her ability to sense. Ino improves by linking minds with her allies, allowing Chōji and Sakura to counter-attack and defeat the Suna-nin. Afterwards, Sakura, Ino and Ameno heal all members from both parties. While the Suna-nin openly admit defeat and offer their scroll, Sakura notes that it is unneeded as they already have two matching scrolls. The two teams then part ways, agreeing to meet again in the third exam.

Ultimately, Ino succeeds in expelling Saya from Chōji's mind, allowing Chōji to regain control of himself and attacked the enemies, forcing them to retreat. Later, with Chōji and Ino still exhausted from the last skirmish, Saya's team soon returned, keeping Ino and her team pinned down in a sandstorm while attacking them with sand puppets. While Ino tried to keep up her sensory mode, her team convinced her to conserve chakra and rely on their eyes. The Konoha-nin easily dealt with the sand puppets, until one of them was revealed to be Mamushi in disguise and poisoned Chōji and Ino. Afterwards, gaining enough chakra, Sakura was able to propel herself out of the sandstorm and defeat the enemies with a single strike. Afterwards, Sakura healed her teammates, to which Chōji and Ino voiced their pleasure in having Sakura for a teammate. Later, Team Asuma was caught in a massive sandstorm. Ultimately, the team was rescued by the Suna-nin proctors and brought to a building to wait out the storm before resuming the exams.

After the storm passed and the second exam was concluded, it was learned that the Chūnin Exams were ended early due to controversy happening in the second exam. Instead, it was decided by Gaara that a report on each participant would be sent to their respective village leader for them to decide if they would be promoted. Upon returning to the village, Chōji and his teammates were all promoted to chūnin status.

Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission
Chōji made his Part II début shortly after Naruto returned from successfully rescuing Gaara. Like most of the Rookie Nine, he had reached the chūnin rank. Chōji had also improved his skills during the time-skip, 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.

Chōji was then seen in a restaurant together with Team Asuma and Team Kakashi, now including Sai. Sai was surprised to see them after his encounter with them. Sai then started giving nicknames to everyone, in the hope of getting along better with them. He almost called Chōji fat, but Naruto covered his mouth to prevent him doing so.

Twelve Guardian Ninja
In the anime, when Sora explores Konoha, he gets into a conflict with Kiba and Akamaru. Chōji then appears with Shikamaru while Sora and Kiba were arguing, telling them not to fight. Sora then insults Chōji calling him fatso which enraged him. After Lee and Naruto join the "fray" it is ended before it gets serious by Shikamaru and Asuma. Asuma then treated the Konoha 11 boys to lunch accompanied by Sora.

Later, when a horde of zombie ninja attacked Konoha under the summoning of Furido. Chōji along with Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Rock Lee, Izumo and Kotetsu held the resurrected ninja at bay. Afterwards, Chōji along with his teammates then acted as back up for Team Yamato when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's chakra was unleashed in Sora's body. Chōji then uses his Partial Multi-Size Technique to immobilise Sora but soon after the chakra cloak begins burning his hands. Sora, now having four tails, attacked Chōji and the others, but Yamato was able to shield them with his Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall. Ino and Sakura then attempted to heal Chōji's burned hands, and Sakura stated that wounds caused by the Nine-Tails cannot be easily healed. Chōji is later seen with the other ninja seeing Sora off.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission
Later, Chōji arrived with Raidō Namiashi, Aoba Yamashiro and Ino as back-up for Asuma's Nijū Shōtai team in their fight with Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu. As the Akatsuki pair fled due to their arrival, Chōji 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. He told Chōji that he was 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 Chōji to diet a bit more, and Chōji said that, while it was difficult, he would try. Chōji then reminisces his memories with Asuma like the day when they were assigned to him as students and he treated them for a meal and Chōji had ordered a banquet, which hurt Asuma's economy. Chōji then cried. After smoking one last cigarette, Asuma died, leaving Chōji, Shikamaru, and Ino to set out in an attempt to avenge him with Kakashi as their temporary leader.

After discussing a plan created by Shikamaru, they located Hidan and Kakuzu. Chōji attacked the two from above with his Spiked Human Bullet Tank when Shikamaru distracted them, with its effectiveness increased with his new ability to grow and sharpen his hair, creating a huge crater in the ground on impact. His attack however didn't phase them since Kakuzu was able to protect himself and Hidan merely endured it. Not long after did Kakuzu unleash his masks and Hidan was freed from Shikamaru's possession. When Hidan called Chōji "fatso" and insulted his sensei, Chōji enraged, charged at him but was stopped by Shikamaru's shadow for going in carelessly, unfortunately leaving an opening for Hidan to attack. Fortunately he was saved by Kakashi who dealt with Hidan himself with Kakuzu appearing before him. He acted fast and attacked Kakuzu with his colossal fists but Kakuzu easily managed to stop his attack and knocked him out. When Chōji regained consciousness, he increased his body size and used Super Open Hand Slap to crush the two of the masks and keep them at bay.

His attempt was unsuccessful, and Kakuzu was able to capture him and the rest of the team. As they were going to be hit with a massive fire attack by Kakuzu, they were saved by Naruto and Yamato's combined technique to cancel it out. After Naruto arrived and defeated Kakuzu, Chōji returned to Konoha with the rest of his team, noting that Naruto defeating Kakuzu made him "cool", even if not as much so as Shikamaru.

Pain's Assault
When Pain began his assault on Konoha, Chōji and his father arrived at the scene of Kakashi and Pain's fight, stunning Pain's Asura Path. After the Deva Path launched a counter-attack at them, Chōji and Chōza tried to distract the Path so Kakashi could land a finishing blow. Their effort failed, resulting in Chōza being gravely injured. Kakashi, unable to move, sent Chōji to tell Tsunade about the Deva Path's ability. Though believing his father to be dead, Chōji did as instructed, and was delighted to learn from Tsunade that his father was alive. But he quickly sobered after finding out that Kakashi died protecting him. He went to attend to his father, and stayed with him during the destruction of Konoha. After witnessing Kakashi returning to life, Chōji greeted Naruto as he returned to Konoha, supporting Shikamaru on his shoulder.

Five Kage Summit
Chōji is seen comforting Ino after Teams Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai agree that Sasuke must be stopped. He is also noted by Shikamaru to want revenge if Ino was to be killed personally to prevent a devastating international war. Along with the rest of Konoha 11, Chōji is prepared to kill Sasuke. Chōji was later seen with the rest of the Konoha 11, hearing Naruto's decision about Sasuke. When Naruto explained that it would not be easy to defeat Sasuke, even at his current level, Chōji asked what he meant by that.

Power
In the anime, Chōji and his teammates are sent out as backup for Team Kakashi while they were investigating what was happening at The Hole located in the Tonika Village. During this time, Chōji confronted a reincarnated Kumo-nin and used his colossal fists to battle the shinobi. He and Shikamaru were later able to incapacitate a few of the shinobi, but had to take cover when Naruto's clone grew larger.

Later, he, Ino and Shikamaru battled a snake clone of Hidan made by Kabuto Yakushi, but Hidan's body died out just as Hidan was gaining the upper hand. When Naruto defeated his clone and Kabuto retreated, the Konoha-nin bid their goodbyes.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
When the Fourth Shinobi World War begins, Chōji is placed in the Fourth Division alongside Shikamaru. Chōji, Shikamaru, and other members of their division are later sent to provide support for the First Division. They meet up with Ino - sent as backup from her own division - and they team up to help Darui fight Kinkaku. Chōji attacks Kinkaku with his Human Bullet Tank, creating an opening for Shikamaru and Ino and ultimately leading to Kinkaku's capture. Ino–Shika–Chō next engages the reincarnated Kakuzu. As they prepare to face him yet again, he points out that he is not the only ninja to have been reincarnated: Asuma is on the battlefield too.

As Asuma's students and thus experts on his fighting style, Shikaku leaves fighting him to Ino–Shika–Chō. Chōji is reluctant to fight Asuma, and despite Shikamaru and Ino's attempt to reassure him he cannot bring himself to attack him. Asuma attacks him with his Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique and Ino tackles him to get him out of the way. As Chōji struggles to come to terms with what is happening, Asuma tries to motivate him by calling him fat. Although Chōji lashes out in his usual fashion, he still cannot bring himself to strike Asuma. Ino transfers her consciousness into Chōji's body to fight on his behalf. As she fights, Chōji reflects on his duty as an Akimichi, only coming back to his senses when his father shields them from Asuma's attack.

Seeing that his teammates and his own father have the will to fight despite the circumstances, Chōji finds the resolve he needs. He uses Butterfly Chōji Mode to create butterfly chakra-wings without the aid of the Three Coloured Pills, a feat which amazed his father. While Shikamaru manoeuvres Asuma into a vulnerable position Chōji grew to gigantic size and used the Butterfly Bullet Bombing technique to punch Asuma into a nearby cliff. Immobilised, Asuma uses his last few moments before being sealed to congratulate his students on their perfect formation as well as thank Chōji for finding the confidence. Chōji then grew his wings to an enormous size, catching the attention of nearly everyone in the battle. He asked Shikamaru and Ino to back him up while he ended the battle.

By nightfall, Chōji has managed to capture Hizashi Hyūga in his hand while crushing Kakuzu underneath his other fist. The apparent victory is short-lived, as Tobi soon appears on the battlefield with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Chōji and his father confront the statue but are no match for it, only being flung back in the failed offensive. Returning to his regular size, Chōji bunkers down with the rest of his team as Statue goes on a rampage. After the attack subsides, Chōji plans with the rest of his team and Tenten.

The next morning, in the anime, while everyone is still concerned about who to trust because of the transformed White Zetsu that had invaded their ranks, the Sound Four emerge on the battlefield, reincarnated with enhanced cursed seals. Chōji quickly engages Jirōbō, who notes Chōji's much slimmer built. Despite not having his clan pills to aid him, Chōji is able to hold back the Sound ninja and subdue him. However, his victory is short-lived, as Jirōbō engulfs himself and Chōji in a strange technique. Chōji's body was left in a comatose state while his soul was sent to a new location where it was reanimate within a large barrier. Inside, the inhabitants are able to battle normal. However, the Sound Four inform their enemies that in time, their actual bodies' halted chakra flow will eventually cause them to die. In addition, killing the Sound Four will not undo the technique. Despite the initial stalemate, the Sound Four's enhanced Cursed Seals grow even stronger from their accumulated malice, quickly overwhelming the Konoha ninja. Seeing that, Shikamaru begins to intentionally provoke them, knowing that Naruto's new senses would pick up on it. Eventually, Naruto finds them and breaks through the barrier, allowing Inoichi, through a telepathic connection, to release the technique and restore Chōji and the others to their bodies. Upon awakening, Chōji is tearfully hugged by a relieved Ino.

Later, Chōji and the rest of the shinobi stand in circles as a countermeasure against the White Zetsu until Naruto could come and differentiate them. Getting somewhat restless, Chōji asks how much longer they'd have to stay like this, noting that if the Demonic Statue came back they'd be in a lot of trouble. He is greatly relieved when Naruto's shadow clone finally arrives.

After being informed by Inoichi from HQ that Naruto and B were fighting the "masked Madara", Chōji and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As he runs, he states to Shikamaru that it seemed Naruto was doing well. He then states that Naruto was as stupid as he was fat but that people were not always as they seem. Thinking to himself, he jokingly tells slightly stupid Naruto to wait because slim Chōji was coming.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
Upon arriving at the battlefield alongside Shikamau, Chōji announced their presence to Naruto and later stood alongside the other members of the Allied Shinobi Forces to face their opposition. After Shikaku and Inoichi were killed by the Ten-Tails after relaying their final strategy, Chōji attempted to console Shikamaru, only to be reminded by his friend that they were in the midst of battle and did not have time to grieve. He was later shocked alongside the others, by Neji's death. After Kurama had accumulated enough chakra, Naruto sent shadow clones to Chōji and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces to distribute Kurama's chakra.

Kurama's chakra cloak enveloped Chōji, causing his body to naturally begin converting the chakra into calories leading him to rapidly began to regain weight, somewhat to the young man's dismay. Soon after, the Ten-Tails launched an attack, Chōji and several other Akimichi stopped its tails. This gave Ino the chance to take over Obito with her Mind Body Switch Technique to deflect an attack launched at them. With the other tails thrashing about, Shikamaru and several other Nara use the Shadow Imitation Technique to immobilise the beast. Later when Madara and Obito bear down on the Alliance with their Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation and Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance, the cloak surrounding them protected them from the attacks. This lead Chōji to comment that if it hadn't been for the cloak, they would be no different than pigs roasting on a spit. He would later remark that once again Naruto had protected them from the Tenpenchii.

Later as the Alliance banded together to protect themselves against the Ten-Tails' enormous Tailed Beast Ball, Chōji and the other shinobi are able to create multiple weakened defences in an attempt to deflect the attack. However, when these seem to fail, they are saved by the Fourth Hokage's appearance on the battlefield, and even more so when the other Hokage arrive. He was later shocked to see Sasuke arrive on the battlefield as well, and went along with his teammates to where they were. As Ino rushed forward, Chōji cautioned her that Sasuke was dangerous and that she needed to keep her distance. Chōji and the others were later shocked and confused to hear Sasuke's resolve to become the next Hokage.

He then comments on the reunion of Team 7, saying that it has been a while since their entire graduating class has gathered in one place, the last time being the Chūnin Exams. He then charges at the Ten-Tails with his friends. Ino then rallies her own team together, for them to perform Formation E. While Chōji uses his Multi-Size Technique, and Shikamaru uses the Shadow Clutch Technique on him, Ino uses her sensory abilities to lock onto all of the clones in the surrounding area, before using the Perception Transfer technique on Shikamaru. With Ino acting as the mind, Shikamaru as the body and Chōji as the yo-yo, the trio perform the Human Bullet Yo-Yo technique, obliterating all of the surrounding clones. As Chōji prepares to double in size to strengthen his assault, Shikamaru states that the team has a lot more to show, with Ino then berating him for his sudden competitiveness with the other teams. He then watched Naruto and Sasuke attack the Ten-Tails, silently spurring them on.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
With the situation looking grim as the Alliance was trapped in a barrier with a Tailed Beast Ball-firing tree, Chōji and the other shinobi soon found themselves shrouded in the previous Version 1 mantles again. Shocked that it had reappeared, he noted that it was even stronger than before. He and the other shinobi subsequently found themselves on the outside of the barrier, escaping the near-fatal attack thanks to Naruto and Minato's action.

Ready to begin the final stages of his plan, Obito unleashes the Ten-Tails' tree form. It begins unleashing countless branches, attacking every living target to absorb its chakra, killing the victim in the process. To Chōji's horror, Shikamaru fell victim to the tree's attack and drained of nearly all his chakra, Shikamaru collapsed in Chōji's arms. Hashirama Senju has Ino everyone link-up telepathically to inform them of what his original had learned of the Eye of the Moon Plan as well as try and rally them. While Hashirama's words fail to inspire anyone, Naruto's senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode combined with Ino's telepathy caused his emotions and personal memories to be conveyed to everyone, during which Chōji sympathised with Naruto over the loss of Asuma.

Chōji was later so overjoyed when Shikamaru recovered that the young man unreservedly embraced his friend while shedding tears despite Shikamaru's protests. He and his teammates later mobilsed when Naruto called for them via their telepathic link. While shocked when Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle surrounds him, Chōji and the others were successful in using the Rasengan formed in Kurama's tails to break through Obito's defences and give Naruto and Sasuke a clear shot at attacking their opponent. He and his comrades later also assisted Naruto with wresting control of the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito to effectively stop the Ten-Tails' tree form from blooming.

When Madara was revived, Chōji aided his comrades in combating Tobi. He later wondered just what exactly was going on across the battlefield when they saw meteorites falling from the sky close by. He and most of the world fell prey to the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Inside the genjutsu, Chōji dreamt of eating a large meal while a beautiful girl praised him for it, as his father watched on proud of his son.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Ultimately, the world was freed from the genjutsu by Naruto and Sasuke after they ended the war.

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky
Chōji is part of the team of Konoha ninja assigned to provide security at the Blood Prison. When the Ryūha Armament Alliance stages a prison break, Chōji helps round up the escaped prisoners.

Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness
When Shikamaru goes missing in the Land of Silence, Chōji joins a joint Konoha and Suna force to search for and rescue him.

The Last: Naruto the Movie
Chōji makes an appearance in the film which is set two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War. He was seen with his team as they look at how popular Naruto is now with Ino noting many people, mostly women, are drawn to him as a hero. Chōji would then eat ramen with his team and with Naruto and Sakura, commenting that he wouldn't be able to finish all the ramen Naruto's buying him. Chōji is later seen celebrating amongst the villagers after hearing the worldwide announcement of the Moon crisis being averted. Sometime later, Chōji is seen walking alongside Karui, while enjoying her company.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding
Chōji meets up with Shikamaru, who is trying to think of what to get for Naruto and Hinata, and the two have lunch at Yakiniku Q. Chōji reveals that he's gotten Naruto and Hinata a complimentary meal at a nice restaurant. Shikamaru is impressed by how thoughtful the gift is until Chōji mentions it's a meal for three and that he intends to accompany them; he'll get a separate table so as not to be rude.

When Shikamaru finally settles on getting them a romantic honeymoon, Chōji helps him look around Konoha for Ino, as Shikamaru needs a woman's input to help him plan something suitable. After running into Temari, Chōji forces Shikamaru to ask her instead and decides to excuse himself to get desert.

Chōji is later asked by Ino to sample hers and Sakura's military ration pills when they have a cooking competition to prove their women-like abilities. Chōji samples each of their soldier pills and finds them so delicious that he starts putting them into his mouth by the handful. He soon collapses to the ground with blood running from his nose, causing Sakura to believe Ino poisoned the pills and vice versa. Chōji gets up soon afterwards, having finally recovered from his blood sugar overload, and he praises both of their soldier pills. Chōji is last seen at Naruto and Hinata's wedding congratulating the pair and smiling when he sees Shikamaru and Temari having a friendly conversation. Feeling himself get hungry, Chōji plans out how he'll consume all the food.

Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise
When intruders are detected approaching Konoha, Chōji is part of a force sent to intercept them. The intruders turn out the be Konoha ninja who are being controlled, and furthermore blow up when damaged. When this happens, Chōji enters Butterfly Mode and uses the form's wings to direct the explosion away from the village.

New Era
In the following years, Chōji would marry Karui, whom he had a daughter with named Chōchō. On the day of the Five Kage Summit in Konoha, Chōji and Karui waited with Ino and Sai for their kids to turn up to training.

Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls
With graduation exams nearing for his daughter's class, Chōji met up with Chōchō, who was still annoyed with her father's choice of potato chips. Later, he and his family ate out together, with Chōchō still annoyed at how different she was from her parents. They were soon approached by Sarada Uchiha, who was having identity issues of her own.

Chōji soon left for a mission, during which he is contacted by Kakashi who was in the area and requested to come to a remote village in the Land of Hot Water to move a giant meteorite that is blocking a hot spring from flowing. Arriving the next day, Chōji prepared to move it, but Mirai Sarutobi ate his last bag of potato chips, resulting in Chōji being deprived of the calories he would need to move the rock. Feeling guilty, she made a fresh batch of potato chips, which Chōji ate and praised her for. Entering his Butterfly Chōji Mode and enlarging himself, he began pushing the rock, but is unable to move it until Might Guy, Kakashi, Marai and the Yugakure shinobi present collaboratively pushed it together. Returned to his normal size and hungry, Mirai decided to make him all the chips he wants. Later, it was revealed that Chōji was helping in an investigation of missing girls from the Land of Hot Water by helping Kakashi and Guy gather intel.

Upon returning from the Land of Hot Water, he and Ino are discovered by his daughter at the village gate. Noticing her father's slim figure, Chōji was soon distracted by her admiration for his technique.

Graduation Exams Arc
In the anime, in preparation for the Genin Exams at the Academy, Chōji trained with Chōchō, Inojin Yamanaka and Shikadai Nara. Later, he and Chōchō attended the parent teacher conference at the Academy, where he discussed his daughter's progress and future goals with Shino Aburame.

Byakuya Gang Arc
In the anime, when the self-proclaimed noble thieves, the Byakuya Gang, began gaining support from several villagers in Konohagakure, the villagers began acting out against companies accused of corrupt actions. Chōji joined his fellow ninja in working to pacify the situation. Ultimately, it was discovered that several of the protesters were under genjutsu. Chōji helped in dispelling the genjutsu. This, along with Naruto's speech, was able to peacefully end the riots.

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 Chōchō 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 their 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. Karui forgave him. Chōji and his family then enjoy a meal together at the end of Parent and Child Day.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
While shopping with his daughter, Chōji was irritated to find that all the food on the shelves had been bought by Naruto's shadow clones. He later watched his daughter compete in the second round of the Chūnin Exams against Shinki.

Chōchō Arc
In the anime, Chōji began teaching his daughter their clan's more advanced techniques, including the maxed out calorie control skill, only to be disappointed that she was more interested in watching a TV drama featuring a handsome lead actor Tomaru.

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 tried to get them off the topic by telling them from his own experience the kind of man Jiraiya was. When that failed, Chōji simply told them that they were too young to read the books.

Later, when Urashiki Ōtsutsuki was spotted in the area, Chōji 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.

Meanwhile, the grown-up Sasuke and Boruto were sent back in time to shortly after Sasuke's defection. There, the two pretended to be travelling performers and were put under watch by Naruto. During which, past-Chōji and his friends helped Boruto and Naruto clean up a bathhouse after the commotion Naruto and Jiraiya caused. Days later, Chōji and the rest of his team invited Boruto and Naruto to join them in an after-mission barbecue dinner at Yakiniku Q.

Days later, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon approached Chōji and his friends for help, telling how Naruto and Boruto were battling a dangerous foe. They quickly agreed to help. By the time they arrived however, Urashiki was already defeated. The group then escorted their injured friends to the hospital. Days later, after Sasuke and Boruto recovered and prepared to return to their time, Sasuke first used his Sharingan to erase the memories of everyone he and Boruto came in contact of the recent events with to protect the timeline.

Shikamaru Shinden: A Cloud Dancing in Forlorn Falling Petals
Chōji takes Chōchō to Yakiniku Q to meet Karui for dinner. Along the way he spots Ino and Shikamaru outside Yamanaka Flowers and decides to stop and chat with them; he sends Chōchō ahead without him. Shikamaru takes this opportunity to apologise for his son, Shikadai, who recently declined an S-rank mission that Inojin and Chōchō could have benefited from. Ino and Chōji don't see the point in Shikamaru's apology, instead teasing that Shikadai is only taking after him. Ino suggests that Shikamaru talk to Shikadai rather than apologise. Shikamaru agrees to this and leaves.

Chōji later explains the Continental Summit to Chōchō. Even though the Summit could end with the outbreak of war, Chōji is unconcerned. He tells Chōchō that Shikamaru will be there, and that because of Shikamaru's presence the war will be averted.

Kara Actuation Arc
In the anime, after learning of Kara, Konohagakure sent Chōji to report this threat to Kumogakure.

Ao Arc
In the anime, Chōji attended the memorial service for the fallen people of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Kawaki Arc
In the anime, Chōji sent his daughter with money to go buy a bunch of taiyaki to eat together. Later, Chōji participated in the coordination efforts lead by Shikamaru in preparation for Isshiki's invasion. He was among the first to fight Isshiki upon his arrival, but was quickly defeated.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie
He made a small cameo before Team 7 was being called up, he, Shikamaru, and Ino were seen running through the streets.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: Bonds
Chōji played a short role while they were trying to fight off the sky ninja and was seen with Sakura, Neji, and Yamato while Naruto destroyed the Land of the Sky.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Will of Fire
Chōji was first seen eating barbecue with Shikamaru and the others celebrating Naruto and Sai's recovery. Later when Hiruko announced that a Fourth Ninja World War would occur once he gets the final kekkei genkai, Chōji was seen with the rest of Konoha 11 except Naruto assigned by Tsunade to secure the village. When Naruto and Sakura left the village to rescue Kakashi, Chōji, and the others left to stop him. While they encountered them, they got ambushed by San which caused them to fight while Sai took Naruto and Sakura ahead. Later when Hiruko finally approached them they all fought and defeated him.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Chōji first appeared with his friends battling several White Zetsu clones disguised as deceased Akatsuki members. Later, a different version of Chōji appeared in the alternate universe. There, while still a user of the his clans expansion techniques, Chōji was seen slimmer and more fit, with square-shaped swirls on his cheeks. Also, this Chōji was more level-headed and keen-minded, as well as more self-conscious about what and how much he eats.

Live Spectacle Naruto
Ryo Kato plays as Chōji in this stage play adaption.

Trivia

 * The name "Chōji" is made up of the kanji for and . 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 Sound Four ninja Jirōbō. His family name "Akimichi" literally means, referring to the time of harvest as well as the streets where vendors sell food.
 * His given name could also be a reference to Shio no Chōjirō, also known as "Shio no Chōji", a man known for his legendary fondness of horse meat, which led to him devouring all 300 of his horses. Shio no Chōjirō in turn may have been inspired by Chōjirō Shioya, a late 17th century magician known for his "horse-swallowing technique".
 * Chōji was the only member of the original 15 genin to not be ranked within the top 30 characters in the sixth and most recent Naruto character popularity poll. He was not ranked among the top 30 in the fifth poll either. The only poll he placed in was the fourth where he was ranked 21st most popular character.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Chōji's hobby is buying and eating snacks.
 * While Chōji doesn't wish to fight anyone in particular, Chōji will fight anyone as long as there is food involved.
 * Chōji's favourite foods are Korean barbecue and junk food, whilst his least favourite food is anything inedible.
 * Chōji has completed 39 official missions in total: 17 D-rank, 13 C-rank, 6 B-rank, 3 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Chōji's favourite word is.
 * Chōji is the only character to have a stat go down between databooks: his hand seal score goes down by half a point between the second and third databooks.
 * According to Hyō no Sho, while in the Academy, Chōji had a B in ninjutsu, taijutsu, cooperation, and positivity, and a C in genjutsu and classroom attitude.
 * In Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2, it is revealed that Chōji has a fear of lizards after he sees Ibushi's puppet lizard.
 * In the omake of Naruto: Shippūden episode 163, Chōji seemingly uses Wind Release by sucking up Potato chips, calling it which angers Naruto questioning what kind of Wind Release was that.
 * In a 2012 Shōnen Jump interview, Masashi Kishimoto stated that Chōji and Killer B were currently his favourite characters in the Naruto series.
 * Despite Chōji using Earth Release: Practice Brick Technique in the manga, Earth Release is omitted from his list of natures in the fourth databook.
 * On the back of Hyō no Sho, Choji's hair colour is blond in colour.

Quotes

 * (To Dosu) "Fat!? I'm big boned!"
 * (To Ino about Shikamaru) "I told you he'd give up. It's you who doesn't know anything about Shikamaru, Ino."
 * (To Ino) "The last bite! The end of the meal, the most precious morsel of meat. I won't let any one take the last piece away from me!"
 * (To Jirōbō) "You've never heard of the phrase: "a grudge over food is deeper than the ocean"? That strike was for eating the last piece of my snack…"
 * (To Jirōbō) "I can't forgive you for calling me fat! But even more than that… Not just for stealing the last chip… or calling me fat… most importantly I won't forgive anyone who insults my best friend!"
 * (His oath)