Choji Akimichi

Akimichi Chōji (ordered Choji Akimichi in the English anime) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Background

Template:Spoilers Akimichi Chōji is a member of the Akimichi clan, one of the four noble clans in Konohagakure. As one of the 'Rookie Nine', Chōji became a Genin in the same year as Uzumaki Naruto. Together with Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino, he was assigned to Sarutobi Asuma's Team 10. Chōji, Shikamaru and Ino call themselves the "Ino-Shika-Chō Trio", just like their fathers before them.

As an Akimichi, Chōji has learned the clan's secret jutsu, "Baika no Jutsu (The Art of Expansion, literally "Multi Size Technique")", and many related jutsu. He is easily motivated by the prospect of food and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls him fat; However, he does not hide his love for food, enjoying Korean barbeque and wearing on his shirt the kanji for "food." His nigh-constant hunger is also a constant annoyance for his teammates, as sating himself often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork.

The members of the Akimichi clans look upon themselves as a catapillar who does nothing but eats and eats and eats, possibly why Choji means butterfly and not pig like Ino. Choji did become what was the dream of many in the Akimichi; he became the catapillar who evolved into a butterfly as shown in his battle against Jirobo.

Chōji and Shikamaru

Chōji has a longstanding friendship with Nara Shikamaru. The two have complete trust in each other and Shikamaru is probably the only one who can see Chōji's true strength. Chōji also has unconditional faith in Shikamaru and, if necessary, would give his life for him. During the Sasuke Retrieval Arc it is revealed that Chōji, when he was younger, was often put down for not being good at a game called "Ninja", which appears to be a cross between tag and hide-and-go-seek. His peers were always berating him; telling him that any team that he is on is bound to lose. One day they simply refuse to let him play at all. However, Shikamaru sticks up for him saying that the teams would be uneven. This gives Chōji a little hope, although in the end they still refuse to let him play. As he's walking away, however, he notices a butterfly stuck in a spider's web and frees it. Shikamaru sees this and ends up ditching the game. A few minutes later, Chōji and his father are seen talking on the roof of a building, the former still upset over the way he was treated by the other children. His father tells him that one day he will meet someone that he can get along with and that eventually they will be the best of friends. Right after that, Shikamaru walks up the stairs and Chōji recognizes him as the one who had defended him earlier. He asks Shikamaru why he isn't playing the game, to which he responds that it was too troublesome. He then tells Chōji that he likes to come up there to watch the clouds, and that Chōji happens to be sitting in his spot. Chōji moves over to give him room and Shikamaru proceeds to lie down and he introduces himself to Chōji, and vice versa. Shikamaru tells him that he should be lazy and watch the clouds with him. This delights Chōji and he eagerly asks Shikamaru if he wants to eat some snacks that he has brought. Shikamaru says that it sounds great and Chōji is overjoyed that someone is being so nice to him. Shikamaru was the first person to ever look past Chōji's athletic deficiencies and see that he was a good-hearted person and because of that he and Chōji become best friends.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc

Chōji was one of the genin Shikamaru chose for the mission to return Uchiha Sasuke. This mission, however, was complicated by, and ultimately failed because of, the Sound Four. Chōji took on the powerful Jirōbō by himself and was only being able to defeat him thanks to the Akimichi clan's special Sanshoku no Ganyaku (三色の丸薬, "Three coloured pills"). The pills, colored green, yellow, and red, gave the user increasingly large boosts of chakra at the cost of health. The red pill alone was said to be fatal to the consumer; Chōji consumed all three. In the field, he was kept alive for a short while by the friendship of his teammates, who had faith that he would defeat Jirōbō and had etched directions onto tree trunks so that he could catch up. If it weren't for the legendary medical skills of Tsunade, and the Nara family's Medical Manual, he would have died.

Naruto II Arc

File:AkimichiChouji2.jpg

Chōji bringing Shikamaru his lunch in Part 2

Chōji makes his Naruto II debut in Chapter 283; he now wears armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs similar to his father. On the front of his chest armor is the obligatory kanji for "food". Like most of the rookie nine, he has reached the Chūnin rank.

It also seems that he now has improved skills, including the ability to enlarge various body parts without much concentration. This is as compared to the past where he needs more concentration to bring about a change in his body size. He was also able to react immediately to an attack from Sai, and was able to keep Naruto and Shikamaru safe from the attack.

Trivia

• "Chōji" means "A butterfly (Chō-)" and "the second son (-ji)" added together. Butterflies are insects known to eat sweets. Ironically enough, slim Ino has a name meaning a "boar" and plump Chōji is a "butterfly".
• "Ino", "Shika" and "Chō" are the name of three cards needed for a highly prized trick of "Inoshikacho" in the Hanafuda.
• According to the official databook Chōji’s favourite foods are Korean barbeque, snacks and sweets. His least favourite foods are anything inedible. His hobby is buying snacks and his favorite phrase is "Meat".
• He is one of the few of the Rookie Nine that haven't seen Naruto use the Kyuubi's power (which he used against Neji in front of a lot of people including most of the Rookie Nine). However, the Rookie Nine still don't know what the source of that power was.
• Interestingly, Chōji shares a distant resemblence with his father as does his team mates share with their fathers.
• He is the tallest of the Rookie 9, by 156.3 cm, Shino is the second tallest by 156.2 cm
• Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino all wear the same brand of earrings, possibly as their fathers were in the same team as "Ino-shika-cho"
• Chouji is universally considered one of the least popular characters in the series. In the popularity contest, he failed to get enough votes to make a rank, the only of the genin to fail to do so.