greenekangaroo:

Another Chouji moment a lot of people forget (I THINK it was a plot episode, maybe when they were fighting Undead Asuma) involves a flashback where Asuma and Chouza are talking about Chouji’s training. They’re sitting on like the back porch of the Akimichi main house and it’s raining.  Chouji is right there, clearly within earshot, examining flowering bushes while holding an umbrella. 

And Chouza expresses to Asuma that he’s worried his son’s compassion is a cover for cowardice. 

Within. Earshot. Of his twelve year old son. He says this. 

(TBH a lot of my Chouji-Chouza writing dynamic comes from this concept, that Chouza loves his son but doesn’t respect him.)

Asuma asserts that Chouji’s compassion isn’t a crutch or a cover and that it can be immensely helpful. Chouza doubts it. 

Chouji finds a butterfly on the ground because symbolism. I think it’s drowning in a puddle or something. Chouji being Chouji, he saves it. 

Chouza says to him something to the tune of ‘you’re kind, but it won’t survive on its own’. 

That’s the difference between Chouji and his father. 

To Chouza, and to a lot of rational adults, small moments of kindness don’t matter because they produce no tangible end result. Sure. Chouji saved the butterfly, but it’s raining. The insect won’t survive much longer. Continuing to aid it will waste time. Why bother delaying its fate? What did saving it accomplish? 

Chouji wasn’t looking to get some kind of result. He was kind to be kind, because the world is not kind to him. He chooses, every time, to be better than the terrible things he sees. 

This culminates in the fight with Asuma, because the kindest thing to do for a dead man is let him stay dead. It’s one of Chouji’s hardest lessons- that his compassion needs to enable him to violence if necessary to protect what he cherishes, even if it means fighting those he trusts. 

Leaving aside Kishimoto’s entirely shit ability to be consistent with characterisation and growth, that? Is some amazing work.