Chouji's been wishing for Ino's jutsu and Shikamaru's presence, so he can't say he's surprised when Ino voices one of those frustrations. He reaches out a hand to grip her shoulder. "I do too. I take it for granted, that Shikamaru will make the best decisions. I argue or have trouble following through sometimes, but I've always trusted his judgement the most."

He thinks about it in silence for a moment before murmuring, "We know him better than anyone, though. We shouldn't make Shikamaru responsible for our decisions when he's not even here. That isn't fair." Chouji told someone once how grateful he is not to be the one burdened with the decisionmaking. He doesn't want to add to that for Shikamaru. "But we consider what we think he'd do before deciding."