The Weird Naruto Couple That Puzzles Longtime Fans

Romance is far from the primary focus of the Naruto franchise's expansive story. Nevertheless, its characters have shown romantic interest in one another from time to time since the earliest days of the original series' run. Most notably, Naruto harbored a crush on fellow Team 7 member Sakura early on. His interest remained unreciprocated due to Sakura's interest in Sasuke, the third member of Team 7.

By the original series' end, Naruto ultimately ended up with Hinata, who had long since expressed quiet interest in him also since the series' early days. Sakura, meanwhile, ended up marrying none other than Sasuke, her longtime crush.

Those two pairings, of course, make logical sense, given that both romantic storylines were in development since not long after the involved characters' introductions. Some other couplings, generally among the franchise's second- or third-string characters, have happened seemingly without much precedent whatsoever.

Most notably, Choji's marriage to Karui has remained a head-scratcher among some fans of the series due to a virtual lack of meaningful interactions between the two characters prior to their ending up with one another. It seemed to come so far out of left field that fans flocked to a Reddit thread in an effort to sort out just how it happened. Here's why they have so many questions — and what might be the answers.

Choji and Karui's coupling is revealed in Boruto, the sequel series to Naruto starring Naruto's son, from whom the series gets its name. Alongside Boruto, much of the rest of the series' teenaged cast is comprised of children of established characters as well. Metal Lee, for example, is the son of Rock Lee. He not only resembles his father in appearance but fights with the same Strong Fist style of taijutsu.

In Naruto, Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru comprise Konohagakure's Team 10. In Boruto, Team 10 is made up of their children. Inojin is the son of Ino and one-time Team 7 member Sai; Shikadai is the son of Shikamaru and Sunagakure's Temari; and Chocho is the daughter of Choji and Karui. Their teaming up marks the seventeenth such combination of members of each of their respective clans, known as Ino-Shika-Cho.

Some fans in the Reddit thread theorize that Choji and Karui's pairing was primarily intended to preserve Ino-Shika-Cho into a new generation. While Choji seldom interacted with Karui prior to their marriage in meaningful ways, he also had few meaningful interactions with women in the series not otherwise intended for a romance with another character. Thus, series creator Masashi Kishimoto may have simply paired Choji with one of the few remaining eligible women in order to ensure that he ended up with a child capable of joining the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho.