Goodbye Old Friend! I'll Always Believe in You!

Choji lies dying in the forest while his father races a medical team to find him. The episode is the arc's first exhale of grief — Choza Akimichi tracking his son by the trail of the forbidden pills, Tsunade's clinic on standby, a friendship pin clutched in a slack hand. The flashbacks do the work: a lonely fat kid, a lazy boy who chose to sit with him, a bond that just bought the squad its lead. Choji's fate hangs unresolved as the camera pulls forward to the next pursuer waiting in the trees.