For people who love Choji



Background

Chōji was born into the Akimichi clan, and is slated to become the sixteenth head of the Akimichi (秋道16代目当主, Akimichi Jūrokudaime Tōshu) 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 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.



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 teacher Asuma.

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"). However, he does not hide his love for food and his near constant hunger is also an annoyance to his team-mates, 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 piece of chips, 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 is angry. Since Part II of the series however, his eating habits are more controlled and it no longer interferes with his duties as a shinobi.

One thing Chōji is lacking is self-confidence, even thinking if he'll ever get married.

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.



Appearance

Chōji has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and like the rest of his clan, he has a much more robust physique than most other ninja. Since his childhood, he has always been quite husky, which is a necessity in his clan to perform their techniques since they convert calories to chakra. During Part I, Chōji's wore brown shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved green jacket over a white shirt with his clan's obligatory kanji for "food" (食, shoku) on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages. His forehead protector was also worn like bandanna around his head with tufts of his hair sticking out.

During Part II, he sports a red suit with plated armour on his torso, arms, and upper legs, similar to his father. On the front of his chest armour is the obligatory kanji for "food" (食, shoku). His brown hair has grown much longer reaching to his waist and he also changes his earrings from hoops to the studs that he got as a gift from Asuma. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he wears the standard Konoha flak jacket over his outfit. After Chōji uses the Multi-Size Technique, he gains two extra markings underneath both his eyes as well.



Ability

As an Akimichi, Chōji uses the calories he eats and converts them to chakra in order to perform his technique which is the primary reason for his, as well as the members of his clan's physical size. Chōji's most pronounced ability is his tremendous physical strength, being the physically strongest member of the Konoha 11. Shikamaru hinted at Chōji's raw power during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, but it wasn't until he broke them out of Jirōbō's dome that the rest of Sasuke Retrieval Team believed him.

In Part I, Shikamaru said that Chōji is the strongest member of the Sasuke Retrieval Team, but that he lacks confidence in himself. In Part II, he was able to provide assistance against Deva Path with his father, and helped Kakashi Hatake decipher the weakness of Shinra Tensei. After mastering Calorie Control during the Fourth Shinobi World War, he helped Hiashi Hyūga subdue his brother Hizashi Hyūga, as well as restrain Kakuzu with the help of Darui, Izumo Kamizuki, and Kotetsu Hagane.

At the start of the series, Chōji's taijutsu was passable, and could be used to great effect with his clan's Multi-Size Technique and Partial Multi-Size Technique, which greatly increased the striking power of his blows. He is a 'power' type, using his massive physical strength enhanced with his clan's techniques to strike crippling blows. When he fought against Jirōbō, after the consumption of the Green Pill, he was able to flip him with ease. After taking the Red Pill, forming his butterfly wings, Chōji was able to catch Jirōbō's fist with ease, which is even more impressive since his opponent was in his Cursed Seal Level 2 form which was able to lift him even in his gigantic form, and with a single punch he was able to kill his opponent.

After the time-skip, Chōji's taijutsu improved immensely. He was able to use his Partial Multi-Size Technique to effortlessly destroy a few of Sai's lions. He was also able to stun two of Kakuzu's masks after growing to tremendous size and using the Super Open Hand Slap technique. By the Invasion of Pain, he was nearly able to destroy Deva Path with a massive punch, and due to his massive physical strength he was key in restraining the Path after Shinra Tensei was used. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, he was able to get into striking range of a resurrected Asuma Sarutobi twice, but was unable to land a blow due to his hesitation to hurt his teacher. After losing his hesitation and forming his chakra wings he was able to smash Asuma with relative ease, also using the Multi-Size Technique to increase the power of his blow. Chōji's speed has also seemingly increased, as he was fast enough to save Shikamaru from being stomped by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

As an Akimichi, Chōji knows various secret techniques 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 Part I this was done by wrapping a chain of kunai around his body. He can also use the Partial Multi-Size Technique to expand his arms and legs as well as other body parts.

After the time skip, Chōji's Spiked Human Bullet Tank does not involve kunai wrapped around him, but instead involves a technique that hardens his hair into extremely sharp spikes that cover his body, similar to Jiraiya's Needle Jizō technique, after which Chōji spins rapidly. Also, Chōji no longer needs to take any pills to perform the Partial Multi-Size Technique.

Chōji can take the Akimichi clan's Three Coloured 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's power 100 times more than normal, but known to be always fatal, although Chōji survived the effects, thanks to the Nara clan's medical book and Tsunade's medical expertise. The one consuming it loses most of their bodily fat, which is converted in an enormous amount of chakra, so much that it manifests in two massive butterfly-like wings on the user's back.

Originally, Chōji requires to take these pills in order to use the more advanced Partial Multi-Size and Super Multi-Size Techniques. After two and a half years, however, he can now rely on his own improved chakra control to do so, without the pills forcing it out for him. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, when forced to fight the deceased Asuma, Chōji is able to replicate the red pill's effects without actually consuming it. Since he formed the butterfly wings without the pill, he negates the negative side effects, and could tap fully into the calories he stored up without danger. The amount he stored made the wings grow to the size of the entire battlefield after Asuma's defeat.



Fun facts

"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 Sound Four ninja Jirōbō. The names "Ino", "Shika" and "Chō" are also a pun on the "Ino–Shika–Chō" winning combination in Hanafuda.