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As a child, Choji was often put down for not being good at a game called "Ninja", a cross between tag and hide and seek, in which one team seeks to avoid the other team, which is armed with cardboard shurikens. His peers would berate him, telling him that any team he was on would lose and as such they would not allow him to play with them. One day, Shikamaru Nara stuck up for him by pointing out that the teams would be uneven if Choji didn't play, though the the other children continued to keep Choji from joining them. Choji sat with his father, who told him that despite not being popular, he would one day find a good friend whom he could stand beside forever. Shikamaru, having decided to enjoy his pastime of watching the clouds instead of playing on uneven teams, arrived to ask to join Choji and his father. Choji agreed and offered Shikamaru some of his snacks, which he gladly accepted. Because of Shikamaru's willingness to look past Choji's athletic deficiencies and recognize his true strength, Choji came to view Shikamaru as his best friend. The two have since developed complete trust in one another, with Choji willing to give up his life to defend Shikamaru, and considering the act of insulting him unacceptable.
[edit] Personality
Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino in Part IIChoji has a love for food, his favorite being Korean barbecue, general snacks and sweets, and basically anything that is edible. He openly displays this love of food by wearing the kanji for "eat" in Part I and "food" in Part II on his outfit, and is commonly seen eating from a bag of chips. His nigh-constant hunger is a constant annoyance for his teammates, as sating himself often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork. Because of this, his teammates often use food against him, such as offering him food as a reward for accomplishing a task or simply using his favorite foods as a form of blackmail. In some instances Choji has difficulty restraining himself, as seen when Asuma takes him to a buffet where he proceeds to eat so much that he hurts his stomach, forcing him to go to the hospital. Nevertheless, Choji's taste for food can be an asset at times, as during one of the anime's filler arcs he is able to be the taste-tester of his teammates' ramen and helps to improve the recipe to complete their mission.
Despite his open display for his love of food, Choji is very sensitive about his size and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls him "fat" (he refers to himself as "big boned", "chubby", or "pleasingly plump" wink . Once called "fat", Choji's resolve to fight is elevated to new levels and he becomes much more hostile to his opponents than he would otherwise. Just as they use food against him, Choji's teammates use this personality trait against him as well. Should Choji be reluctant to fight, one of them need only comment on his size to spur him into combat form. In Part II he starts to look more muscular than obese, causing him to look like he always claimed he did: big-boned. Even with this new look, he is apparently still sensitive about his size, and others make it a point to avoid using the word "fat" around him.
[edit] Abilities
As an Akimichi, Choji's style of combat focuses on increasing his size. At the series' start he uses Multi-Size Technique to serve this purpose, reshaping him into a large, round form. Once in this form he can use Human Bullet Tank (肉弾戦車, Nikudan Sensha?, Viz "Human Juggernaut", English TV "Human Boulder Jutsu" wink to tuck his limbs inside his increased mass and roll at opponents at rapid speeds. With the Spiked Human Bullet Tank (肉弾針戦車, Nikudan Hari Sensha?, English games "Human Needle-Boulder" wink variant he can increase the amount of damage this technique does to a target, either by wrapping himself in a cloak of kunai or, as seen in Part II, by lengthening and sharpening his hair.
Choji sees a number of other advancements in Part II; the Multi-Size Technique, while still increasing his size, no longer makes him round. Because of this he has developed the Mega Palm Thrust (超張り手, Chō Harite?), and after increasing his size with the Multi-Size Technique he can funnel chakra into his enlarged hands to cause extensive crushing damage to anything caught under his palms. While he is seen using the Partial Multi-Size Technique in Part I, Choji also becomes more adept with it in Part II, and is now able to use it with little effort and with a better reaction time.
The large amount of food that Choji eats is not without purpose, and by using the Akimichi clan's Three Colored Pills (三色の丸薬, Sanshoku no Ganyaku?) he can convert his excess fat into chakra. The pills, colored green (spinach), yellow (curry), and red (pepper), make Choji increasingly stronger, with the red pill giving him 100 times his usual strength. After taking the green pill, Choji is able to use the Super Multi-Size Technique to increase himself to gigantic proportions. Once consuming the red pill Choji can use Butterfly Bullet Bombing (蝶弾爆撃, Chōdan Bakugeki?), named for how the excess chakra the red pill creates forms into the shape of butterfly wings behind him. By channeling all of his spare chakra into one hand and releasing it on contact with an enemy, Choji can decimate any obstacle and likely kill whoever is on the receiving end; the punch kills Jirobo in his level 2 curse seal form. As a result of the pill's burning of the body's reserves, Choji's health sees a drastic decline with each pill he takes, and the red pill itself said to be fatal to the user. While Choji nearly dies after consuming the red pill, the Nara clan's research, combined with Tsunade's medical expertise allows the formation of an antidote, which brings him back to good health, and he is quickly able to regain his fat reserves.
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