Konohagakure no Sato :
Central TOwer ( Forest OF death ) :
The atmosphere inside the preliminary chamber was suffocatingly silent . You know that specific kind of silence that falls over a room right before something goes horribly wrong? That was the vibe.
The arena below was a cold, unforgiving circle of stone, still dusted with the grit and debris of the matches that had come before and the shadows in the spectator seats seemed to lean in, eager for blood.
( It's the Sand's monster )
Up in the stands, the Jōnin were playing it cool, though you could see the slight tightenings around their eyes. The Genin, however, were a different story. They were restless, shifting their weight, whispering in hushed tones that barely carried over the railing. It felt like the entire room had collectively decided to hold its breath until someone hit the floor.
On one side of the stone floor stood Chōji Akimichi.
From a distance, he looked steady. His shoulders were squared, his gaze was fixed forward, and his hand hovered near his weapon pouch with a grim determined face .
But internally? It was a different story. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird, and the sweat was already starting to slick his palms. This wasn't the "snack-time" Chōji everyone was used to underestimating. Today Choji felt different .
(I seriously just want to go home and eat BBQ... why did I agree to this? This eyebrowless guy looks like he's made of pure bad news,) Chōji thought, his stomach doing a nervous somersault.
Across from him stood Gaara of the Desert.
If Chōji was a bundle of nerves, Gaara was a face of indifference . He stood perfectly still, a heavy silence radiating from him that seemed to drop the temperature of the room by ten degrees. The massive sand gourd on his back looked like a part of his own body, and the sand around his feet shifted lazily, almost as if it were breathing on its own.
Gaara didn't look excited. He didn't look bored. He looked like someone who had already seen the end of the fight and was just waiting for things to end .
Up in the stands, the Sand Siblings were watching with varying degrees of unease. Temari had her arms crossed tightly, her eyes narrowed in a permanent scowl of concern.
( well , it's Gaara , shouldn't be aby problem .....especially against that fatty )
Kankurō, who had literally just dragged himself back from the infirmary, was twitching his fingers over his puppet scrolls, his face pale.
( ....well That chubby guy looks weak and a pushover ...but once gaara is back , how do i answer about my loss )
Even Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, his blue eyes locked onto the matchup with a strange intensity.
( Gaara ...why choji of all things , wouldn't Sakura be better against him ?? )
Hayate Gekkō, the proctor who looked like he hadn't slept since the Third Shinobi War, stepped back and raised his hand.
"Begin....!"
For a heartbeat, neither moved. It was a standoff between a mountain and a desert. Then, Chōji broke the stalemate.
(Alright... let's do this before I lose my nerve and throw up ) Chōji decided.
He didn't just charge in like a bull. He flicked his wrist with a speed that surprised the spectators, sending a fan-shaped spread of shuriken and kunai skimming low across the floor. He wasn't aiming to kill—not yet. He was creating angles, trying to find out exactly how that sand of Gaara's reacted.
( Well I did gather some rumors and what-not about this Sand guy ...let's test things first )
The blades whistled through the air, but they never stood a chance. A smooth, seamless curtain of sand rose from the floor, catching the weapons mid-flight and dropping them like discarded toys.
(So that's the legendary sand guard,) Chōji noted, his eyes narrowing. (Looks like a total pain to deal with..... Fine. Let's try something with a bit more kick.)
The crowd looked puzzled as Chōji repeated the same move.
"Why is he doing the same thing twice?"
someone muttered from the Konoha side. "Does he think the sand will get tired?"
But Chōji was ahead of them. This second wave of kunai wasn't empty. Small, hissing Explosion Tags were tied to the tails of the blades.
*Hiss* *hiss.* *hiss*
BOOM!
A series of sharp, violent pops erupted around the sand wall. The blasts weren't massive, but they were perfectly timed. They kicked up a blinding screen of dust, fractured the stone floor, and tore ragged gaps into the packed sand defense.
"He's using the tags to scatter the sand and Gaara's focus!" Temari hissed, her grip on the railing tightening.
"Um , He's trying to force Gaara to split his attention between multiple points of impact," Kankurō added, his voice low with realization.
Suddenly, a thick tendril of sand lunged out of the smoke like a cobra, aimed straight for Chōji's throat. Chōji didn't panic. He flooded his feet with chakra and snapped into a Body Flicker, blurring to the left, then the right, then back toward the center. He was a moving target, dancing through the smoke and grit.
" whoa , That Fatty is fast "
" No sh*t "
" Go ,Choji Go ..!! "
(Ugh, I seriously hate moving ... It's burning my calories,) Chōji grumbled internally, even as his movements remained erratic .
Soon Chōji saw his opening. As the sand adjusted to his erratic movements, he shortened the distance. The closer he got, the more the air felt heavy—Gaara's bloodlust and sand were pressing against his chest.
( hmm , He controls sand much better near himself )
Choji slipped another kunai from his pouch, threw it low, and immediately transitioned into a set of rapid hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
A short, stubby ridge of stone surged up in front of him. It wasn't high enough to hide behind, but it served its purpose: it interrupted Gaara's line of sight. The sand swerved and crushed the top of the wall instantly, grinding stone into powder. But Chōji was already gone. He used the wall as a stepping stone, springing into the air with a grace that defied his size.
Gaara looked up, his expression unchanged.
( Stupid. Coming at me from the air just makes you an easier target.)
Sand surged up to intercept the airborne Chōji, but Gaara's eyes suddenly flicked downward. That stray kunai that choji had thrown earlier was hissing right at his feet.
( Another explosion tag?)
BOOM.
Because Gaara had focused his sand upward to swat Chōji out of the sky, his ground defense had thinned out. The blast was close—dangerously close. All the sand came back at once but The automatic shield around Gaara groaned and cracked, a massive hole opening up in the front. Gaara himself was unscathed behind it, but for a split second, the "invincible" shield has a hole .
"Multi-Size Technique!"
*THWACK*
Chōji's fist, now the size of a small boulder, connected with Gaara's torso with the force of a Bulldozer. The impact sent the Sand Genin flying backward across the arena.
( How's that ?? ) Choji looked at his opponent who took his Punch head on without that troublesome sand guard .
But Before Gaara could hit the wall, sand erupted from the floor to catch him, acting like a giant hand that brought him to a halt.
The arena went dead silent. Then, the whispers started.
"*Gasp.*..... that fat kid was actually that strong?!" a Genin from a minor village stammered.
"But look... the sand guy is still standing. What kind of jutsu is that? He's got a second skin like armor."
Up in the stands, Baki—Gaara's sensei—narrowed his eyes. "To think Gaara was actually pushed back."
"It's not just that he was pushed back," Kankurō whispered, horror dawning on his face. "He got hit. Most people can't even touch or came near Gaara "
"I thought the blonde , Creepy Bug one or the Uchiha were the ones to watch," Temari added, her eyes fixed on Chōji.
" But What is going on with this Innocent Chubby ?"
Chōji didn't give Gaara time to breathe. He knew that against a defense like this, if you stopped, you were dead.
(Urgh, not even a scratch. Just what kind of monster did I draw for a round one opponent?) Choji feinted to the side, dropping his center of gravity. He used a basic transformation jutsu—just a puff of smoke to suggest a different angle of attack—while he threw another volley of shuriken and Kunai .
( and there is another defense after sand guard ....is it sand skin ....ugh ....I wanna go home )
While the weapons were thrown , and took Gaara's attention with one Kunai sticked with explosion tag at front , there was another one that Choji threw , THis One also had an explosion tag. But this time, the trajectory was different. He threw it in a high parabola, aiming it to drop behind Gaara away from His eyes as his focus was now at front .
BOOM
BOOM.
The blast went off behind the sand shield, and the kinetic force stumbled Gaara forward. head first with the first blast's shock .
" UGh "
For the first time, Gaara's eyes narrowed as he felt pain , He looked annoyed & dangerous .
Seeing Dangerous looking eyebrowless Psycho , Choji sweated more
(That shock only made him stumble? Is that shield absorbing the shocks from blasts too?..... Oh, wait, it's sand. It's like hitting a giant beanbag... Stupid me,) Chōji thought in realisation .
Choji realized he needed different kind of force , so He slammed his palms into the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Spikes!"
Jagged ridges of stone raced forward beneath the surface, turning the flat floor into a chaotic mess of uneven terrain. Spears of rock shot up, targeting Gaara from multiple angles. Gaara used his sand as a foothold, lifting himself into the air to dodge, but Chōji was already calculating.
(Keep wasting that chakra, buddy... You're manipulating tons of sand. I can whittle your endurance down. Once you're tired, my fat will finish this.)
Chōji used a Body Flicker to appear on Gaara's left. As the sand rushed to catch him, he dropped low, activating a Partial Multi-Size Technique in just his legs. He drove a massive kick into the floor.
CRACK.
The stone splintered. That crack disrupted the foundation of the sand formation for just a heartbeat. Chōji seized that heartbeat.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
He tucked in his limbs, becoming a massive, spinning sphere of chakra-fueled momentum. He shot across the floor like a cannonball.
Gaara's sand surged to intercept, trying to wrap around the rolling boy and crush him into a halt. But it couldn't hold. Because Chōji was spinning at such an extreme velocity, the centrifugal force was creating a repulsive effect.
Every time the sand grains tried to latch onto him, the sheer rotational energy dispersed them, throwing the sand outward in a gritty spray. It was like trying to grab a spinning power tool with a handful of loose dust.
"The sand can't catch him!" Ino yelled from the stands.
Shikamaru added "Choji's spinning too fast for it to gain a grip!"
Chōji slammed into Gaara's main shield. The impact boomed through the chamber. The wall of sand thickened, Gaara pulling extra reserves from his gourd to reinforce it, but Chōji's rotation was relentless. The wall cracked. It actually splintered enough for people to see Gaara's face behind the grit.
' whoa that fatty is tough '
' hmm '
Gaara's gaze sharpened. He wasn't just annoyed anymore. He was recognizing Chōji as an actual opponent.
( this fatty moves too much ....annoying )
Chōji rolled out of the impact, gasping for air. His muscles were screaming, and the fatigue was starting to bite.
(.....not this too? What the heck does it take to break this guy? )
while choji was trying to catch his braeth after all the relentless moving , Gaara didn't wait. He was learning. He realized that trying to catch Chōji in a direct bind was useless while he was spinning.
Instead, as Chōji launched into another Human Bullet Tank, Gaara didn't just put up a wall. He used his sand to reshape the terrain ahead of the charge.
( let me see if you can roll on the sandy floor ) Gaara thought as he dispersed sand on the ground around him
As Chōji hammered forward, the floor beneath him suddenly slanted into a steep, sandy ramp and then the sand rippled . Chōji's momentum, instead of hitting Gaara, was redirected upward. He went flying toward the ceiling, his spin losing its focus.
( It's over ....I will finish this sand Coffin )
Gaara wasn't done. He sent a wave of sand to catch Chōji mid-air, wrapping around his torso. The sand moved around Choji , and the crowd gasped as it seems like sand will devour the chubby kid .
( ...Ugh ...there goes my calories )
Feeling the pressure around , instead of panicking Chōji grunted
[ Multiple size expansion ]
Choji's body surging outward in a violent expansion that broke the grip of the sand , surprising Gaara and all the crowd in the Tower , but as choji got freed , he found himself in air , he landed hard on the jagged stone ridges he'd created earlier from the air
" *Huff* *huff* .....ugh my back "
( why is this guy so much stronger than he looks? Can't I just go home?) Choji stood up as fast as he could as he watched Gaara , The psycho was looking at him with a very wrong gaze , just as Choji decided to go home and call it a day .
"Come on, Chōji! GOGOGO!"
"You got this, chubby! Put him in the dirt!"
"Take down that eyebrowless freak!"
The cheering from his friends made Chōji shiver. His face moved and he watched them , They were worried, he could see it in their faces, but they were still screaming for him.
"If you defeat him, Chōji," Naruto's voice boomed over the rest, "I am going to prepare a feast for you personally! No shadow clones, the real deal!"
Chōji's ears actually twitched. Naruto's personal cooking? The stuff that was so rare it was like seeing a solar eclipse? The taste was
( *Drool.*.. Alright, guess it's time to get serious. A feast from Naruto-kun is worth a little bit of pain.)
wiping his mouth with his sleeve , Chōji reached into his pouch. He took the first pill—the Blue Spinach Pill. A surge of power hit him like a furnace, sharpening his breathing and numbing the fatigue.
Everyone watched as the Chubby kid seems have lost his fatigue and was looking much stronger .
' what was that ?? '
' soldier pill?? '
' must be some trumph '
Choji moved again , using the same useful tactics , His next strikes was faster, stronger, shoving Gaara's sand screens back by inches.
( .....urgghhh , why is this guy's chakra not depleating after all that )
Seeing no solution choji took distance , Then, he took the second—the Yellow Curry Pill. His chakra erupted, manifesting as a golden pressure that made the air hum. He dropped into another Human Bullet Tank, this one uglier and more desperate. He slammed into Gaara's shield, and this time, the shield didn't just crack. It shattered.
*BOOM*
Choji collided with the sand Genin , The impact sent Gaara sliding back, a small "Ugh" escaping his lips.
Seeing the arrongant and strong sand Genin's situation , especially from the hands of an innocent chubby underdog , The crowd was losing their minds.
"He's pushing Gaara back!"
"Look! The Sand One's bleeding!"
" Go Chubby Go "
His sand skin cracked in multiple places , and A thin line of red had appeared on Gaara's cheek. It wasn't much, but in this arena , and against Gaara it was diffenrent .
" Gaara ..!! " Temari looked down at her little brother's situation .
"...." Kankuro also felt baffled while Baki felt worried for a different reason
( Hope he doesn't loose control )
Gaara touched the blood, his eyes widening. The sand around him began to move faster—sharper—less controlled more feral . A hungry, aggressive edge began to bleed into the arena.
( .....you ., I WILL KILL YOU ...!!! )
Chōji saw the look in Gaara's eyes and knew:
( UGh Trouble ...but I have pushed things too far to stop now )
Feeeling the pressure and understanding that Gaara may come full force now , instead of previous passiveness , Choji reached for the final pill.
( THank God Tsunade Sama is here ...otherwise I wouldn't even dare to use this )
The Red Progenitor Pill.
The chamber felt the change before they saw it. Chōji's chakra erupted with a visible, terrifying force. From his back, massive, glowing butterfly wings of pure blue chakra manifested, spanning nearly the width of the arena.
[ BUTTERFLY MODE ]
The audience was stunned. Some stood up from their seats; the Konoha Jōnin leaned forward, their faces grim. This was the Akimichi trump card—the conversion of every calorie into raw, lethal energy.
Chōji's breathing was heavy, a whistle of air through gritted teeth. His eyes were focused and his frame got thinned from the usual chubbiness .
( with this much chakra .....I can use that )
before engaging Gaara , Choji threw Smoke Bombs and his hands moved in hand-seals , a familiar sign that Naruto was familiar with .
[ Shadow Clone Jutsu ]
He signaled his clone—a small distraction he'd popped into existence moments ago. The clone dove into the ground using the Hiding in the Mole Technique,
At the same time, Chōji wrapped ninja wire around his own body, threading kunai into the lines. He became a braced, spiked projectile. Then, he compressed into the Human Bullet Tank.
But it was still not over .
( arrogant eyebrowless freak , tanking all my Offense like nothing.... let me see If you dare to take this head-on )
[ Multi-size Technique ]
The Body expanded and then that enlarged Human Bullet Tank ROlled.
With the massive force of his enlarged body and the thrust from the chakra wings, Choji didn't just roll. He became a meteor.
( Still not enough )
Choji didn't charge straight. He used the wings to circle the arena in a terrifying arc, building momentum lap after lap.
( there is sand around him , rolling head-on will be countered easily , so first , let''s gain momentum )
One lap.
Two laps.
Three.
" Damn , what the hell is going on "
" Are these two even GEnin ?? "
" I wanna pee "
" Where am I "
" It's one freak after Another "
" Go chubby guy , wIN WIN "
" WIN "
Temari & Kankuro " THis is bad "
Shikamaru " THat Idiot Took Red pill "
Ino " I know .....IT's good Tsunade sama is here "
Naruto watched as he saw Choji going for his final card , The Move that he forced Choji to change the name after winning the eating contest .
( ...Choji , don't forget to shout , you promised ) Naruto looked at the field , feeling a different concern .
THe More Choji moved , the faster he became , The stands could barely track him. He was a blur of blue light and spinning steel.
( .....This is bad )
Cold Sweat trickled down from Gaara's neck , understanding the situation , Gaara's sand reacted and went wild, trying to blanket the floor to deny Chōji an angle, but Chōji changed altitude at the last second,he jumped and then , dived from the ceiling in a descending strike stright at Gaara.
Using all that weight , Momentum , Rotation and Steel .
Choji moved to strike and seeing this
Gaara sweated.
For the first time in his life, the boy who had never been touched felt a chill of genuine, fear. He looked at the rolling mountain of steel spikes and chakra, and his instincts screamed a warning his sand armor couldn't provide. He realized, with a jolt of panic, that if he stayed there, the rotation would drill straight through his chest.
Gaara made a choice. He decided to dodge.
He didn't trust his sand to guard him; he abandoned his stationary stance for the first time since the preliminaries began. He shifted his weight, lunging to the side to avoid the lethal edge of the spinning tank.
But.
*grab*
The timing was too perfect to be an accident. Just as Gaara's feet left the ground to pivot away, the floor beneath him didn't just crumble—it erupted.
Chōji's clone, which had been hidden beneath the stone since the "Mole Technique" gambit, surfaced with precision that would have made a Jōnin proud. Its hands shot out of the debris, locking onto Gaara's ankles with a grip of pure iron.
The hold lasted for only an instant—a heartbeat in the grand scheme of the fight—but in the world of shinobi, a heartbeat is an eternity.
Gaara was pinned.
In this final, desperate gambit, Chōji didn't just attack; he transcended. As he descended from the ceiling like a falling moon, Chōji roared at the top of his lungs.
It wasn't a human sound. It was a sound that carried his iron will, his suppressed rage, and every single calorie he had sacrificed that day. The roar was so powerful that it carried to every corner of the tower, rattling the windows and making the Jōnin in the stands flinch. It was the sound of a boy finally becoming the mountain everyone else thought he couldn't be.
"ROAD ROLLAR DAA ...KUSO FREAKKK....!!!"
BOOM!
The impact detonated. The stone floor shattered into a thousand pieces. Dust, sand, and chakra blasted outward, forcing the spectators to shield their eyes. Gaara was slammed into the earth, buried under the weight of the rotation. The boulder kept spinning on top of him, grinding him into the broken stone.
"GAARA!" Temari screamed.
"Impossible..." Kankurō whispered.
The rotation finally slowed. Chōji leaped back, swaying on his feet. The backlash of the pills hit him like a physical blow. His wings flickered and began to fade. His body trembled, every muscle fiber singing with agony.
*Huff*Huff*
(.. did I... get him?)
As the smoke cleared, the crater was revealed. Gaara was lying down in blood , conscious—barely. He had turned his gourd and every grain of sand into a multi-layered shell to mitigate the hit, but the force had been too much. He was covered in blood, his sand armor cracked and falling away in chunks.
( I WiLl KILL YOU.....!!! )
Gaara's eyes were no longer human. They were maniacal, oozing a raw, primitive bloodlust. He stretched his hand toward the exhausted Chōji and clenched his fist. A violent, jagged tendril of sand rose, no longer defending, but striking with murderous intent.
Faster , Sharper , DAngerous
But Chōji was too battered & exhausted to move , He just watched the sand come for him and just as the sand came near Choji , specifically near his neck .
( is it over ?? )
*swish*
A blade cut through the sand tendril with insulting ease. Sarutobi Asuma stood between them, his chakra blade glowing.
"That's enough," Asuma said, his voice a calm anchor in the chaos.
Seeing his sensei's back , Chōji collapsed. He hit the floor hard, unconscious before he even settled. The kunai and wire clattered loosely around him. He had given everything.
Gaara slowly stood , chest heaving, looking at Chōji and Asuma with a rage that bordered on insanity. He had won, but he looked like someone who had been dragged through hell.
Hayate looked between them and finally spoke, his voice steadying.
"Winner... Gaara from Sunagakure "
The crowd stayed silent for a long, heavy moment. Then, the chamber exploded into noise. Chōji hadn't won the match, but he had done something far more unsettling: he had made that monsterous Freak bleed .
" Goof Job , Fatty "
" DOn't feel down "
" yeah , you are one strong bastard "
" Fat is justice "
" I wanna pee "
And Choji;s actions have given everyone an Underdog's performance that won nearly everyone's heart .
Asuma knelt by Chōji, checking his pulse with a tight jaw. He looked up at Gaara, then at his student. The most gentlest student of his that showed his different side today , All to win .
( *Sigh* .....was it necessary to push yourelf this hard , Choji )
In the silence of the tower, everyone knew—they had just watched a boy with no reputation for anything , nearly bring a nightmare of a monster to its knees.
-------------------------------
Author's notes :
1 last battle to go .
Lee vs Naruto
How was choji's fight though , even though the result was predicted by everyone , I still wanted everyone to enjoy the process to that result .