it. Having fallen for Shikamaru's trick, Chōji joined the team to retrieve Sasuke.

Chōji finishes off Jirōbō.

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.

Chōji undergoingtreatment and observation in intensive care.

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 Konoha 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.

In the anime, Chōji demonstrated a working knowledge of the relationship between ninja and food in this episode When the Academy students were divided into teams