Chōji Akimichi

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

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

Choji and his father were later seen talking on the roof of a building, Choji still upset over the way he was treated by the other children. His father told him that, one day, he would meet someone that he could get along with, and that eventually they would be the best of friends. Soon after, Shikamaru walked up the stairs, and Choji recognized him as the one who had defended him earlier. He asked Shikamaru why he wasn't playing the game, to which Shikamaru responded that it was too troublesome. He then told Choji that he liked to come up there to watch the clouds, and that Choji happened to be sitting in his spot. Choji moved over to give him room, and Shikamaru proceeded to lie down, before telling Choji that he should watch the clouds with him. This delighted Choji, and he eagerly asked Shikamaru if he wanted to eat some snacks that he had brought. Shikamaru took him up on the offer, causing Choji to be overjoyed, since someone was being so nice to him. From that day forth, the two became the best of friends.

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

Personality
Choji is easily motivated by the prospect of food, and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls him "fat" (he refers to himself as "big boned", "chubby", or "pleasingly plump"). However, he does not hide his love for food, wearing the kanji for "eat" on his shirt. His nigh-constant hunger is also a constant annoyance to his teammates, as sating himself 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 piece of meat, or when Akamaru tried to take his food. Choji also tends to eat a lot when he is angry.

Choji 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 Choji's athletic deficiencies, and see that he was good-hearted, and recognizing Choji's true strength. Because of this, Choji has unconditional faith in Shikamaru and, if necessary, would give his life for him.

Choji is a very kind and caring person, that both his father and Asuma have said is his greatest strength.

Appearance
Like the rest of his clan, Choji has a much rounder physique than most other people. Since his childhood, he has always been quite overweight, despite always claiming he was merely husky. During Part I, Choji wore a rather large white scarf, and wore his clan's emblem on his undershirt. His Leaf forehead protector was also worn on a bandana around his head.

During Part II, he sports a red top with armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs, similar to his father. On the front of his chest armor is the obligatory kanji for "eat". His brown hair has grown much longer, and he now looks less overweight and more muscular, just like what he himself had always claimed: big-boned.

Chunin Exams arc
During the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Choji was reluctant to join his team in helping Sakura Haruno fend off a team of Sound Genin, fearing for his own safety, and continuously asking to run. However, when Zaku Abumi called Choji "fatso", Choji proceeded to go berserk as he defended his size, and yelled that Konoha and the Sound ninja were now at war. Properly motivated, Choji fought against the Sound Genin, but were unable to defeat them. His actions, however, bought time until Sasuke Uchiha awakened and forced them to retreat with the power of the Cursed Seal.

In the preliminaries of the exam, Choji began feeling hesitant about fighting, but Asuma convinced him to fight, promising to treat him to barbecue if he won, and to intervene if he was in danger. In the last match of the preliminaries, Choji was matched against Dosu. At the start of the match, Ino yelled to him that he was fat, so that he would be spurred into fighting. Using his Human Bullet Tank to charge at Dosu, Choji got lodged in a wall as a result of Dosu dodging the attack. With Choji unable to fight back, Dosu sent a blast of sound into Choji's bulk, its effectiveness increased as a result of Choji's increased size, thus defeating Choji. As a reward to Choji for getting so far in the Chunin Exams, and as a bribe to help with Shikamaru's training, Asuma took Choji to a buffet, but Choji ate too much and hurt his stomach, forcing him to spend some time in the hospital. He recovered in time to watch Shikamaru and Sasuke's matches, but was put to sleep during the ensuing invasion of Konoha.

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

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

At the start of the mission, Choji took on the Sound Four member Jirobo. Jirobo initially proved to be too strong for Choji to beat, forcing Chōji to use the Akimichi clan's special Three Colored Pills. Although reluctant to use the pills, Jirobo's constant mocking of Shikamaru as a selfish and uncaring leader convinced Choji to take all three pills. With the accompanying increase in strength, he was able to kill Jirobo, but collapsed, and was left near death as a result. The Nara clan's medical guide and Tsunade's medical expertise allowed Choji to evade death and make a full recovery.

Anime filler arcs
Choji appeared for a few of the anime's filler arcs, one of which was to help rescue the daughter of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar owner. To save the daughter, Choji and his teammates were forced to create the perfect ramen, to which Choji assisted by tasting the noodles and improving their quality when they didn't meet his approval.

During the filler arcs, Choji demonstrated a working knowledge of the relationship between ninja and food: in Episode 158, ''Follow My Lead! The Great Survival Challenge'', the Academy students were divided into teams of three, and were assigned a genin to lead them on a mission against the other teams. Choji was assigned to lead a team of three academy students, and, on route, Choji 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. Choji even saved one of his team from eating the wrong plant, which looked similar to the Ninja-Aid Plant, and pointed out the difference between them.

In Episode 168, ''Mix It, Stretch It, Boil It Up! Burn, Copper Pot, Burn!'', it was Choji who knew about the Cooking-nin of the Land of Lightning, whose 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.

Choji made a number of cameos in other arcs, often aiding his fellow Genin in accomplishing missions. In one arc, Choji was teamed with Naruto in fighting a water-jutsu 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 Choji. The two were captured, but Shikamaru and several other ninja saved them.

Sasuke and Sai arc
Choji made his Part II debut shortly after Naruto returned from successfully rescuing Gaara. Like most of the rookie nine, he had reached the Chunin rank. Choji had also improved his skills during the timeskip, and was now able to enlarge various parts of his body without much concentration. His reaction time had also increased, being able to immediately prevent an attack by Sai from harming Shikamaru or Naruto.

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

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

Invasion of Pain arc
When Pain began his invasion, Choji 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, Choji and Choza tried to distract the Path so Kakashi could land a finishing blow. Their effort failed, resulting in Choza being gravely injured. Kakashi, unable to move, sent Choji to tell Tsunade about the Deva path's ability. Though believing his father to be dead, Choji did as instructed, and was delighted to learn from Tsunade that his father was alive. He went to attend to his father, and stayed with him during the destruction of Konoha. After witnessing Kakashi returning to life, Choji greeted Naruto as he returned to Konoha, supporting Shikamaru on his shoulder.

Abilities
Choji's most pronounced ability is his tremendous physical strength. Shikamaru hinted at Choji's raw power during the Sasuke Retrieval arc, but it wasn't until he broke them out of Jirobo's Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness that the rest of Team Shikamaru believed him. He is also shown to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat, as seen when he flipped Jirobo, a skilled practitioner of the art, over without seeming to use much effort. He is not, however, particularly fast in his movements.

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

He can also add spikes to this attack to make it more damaging. In Shippūden, Choji doesn't need to take any pills for Super Multi-Size Technique. In Part II, Choji's Spiked Human Bullet Tank does not involves kunai wrapped around him, but instead involves a technique that turns his hair into extremely sharp spikes that cover his body, similar to Jiraiya's Needle Jizō technique, after which Choji spins rapidly.

Three Pills
Choji can take the Akimichi clan's Three Colored Pills to greatly increase his strength, speed, and stamina for a short time. These pills convert the body's fat reserves into chakra, and are considered a last resort, since they take a tremendous toll on the body. The last pill is said to increase the clan member power 100 times than normal, but known to be always fatal, although Choji survived the effects, thanks to the Nara clan's medical book.

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

Trivia

 * While Ino has regularly ridiculed Choji for his excess weight, in one filler arc, Ino also stated that his weight is essential to effectively use his clan's secret techniques.
 * Choji 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.