Chiaotzu's History
Fortuneteller Baba Saga
Chiaotzu is shown as Tien's partner-in-crime, traveling with him from village to village with the InoShikaCho, a naturally gentle beast who attacks villages Tien and Chiaotzu tell him to. Tien and Chiaotzu inevitably "save" the villages and collect huge rewards for the false services. Goku tries to expose them as frauds, but Tien convinces the villagers it is Goku who is an ally of InoShikaCho. He is seen with Tien in the boat headed to the World Martial Arts Tournament on Papaya Island.
Tien Shinhan Saga
Chiaotzu is fully introduced to the series at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament during the Tien Shinhan Saga. He is a student of Master Shen, who enters him along with Tien in order to represent the Crane School of martial arts and defeat the students of his rival, the Turtle Hermit Master Roshi.
At Tien's request, Chiaotzu uses his mental powers to fix the ordering of the matches in the quarter-finals. Chiaotzu decides to put himself up against Krillin, who is representing Master Shen's rival Master Roshi's Turtle School, and whom he had been exchanging petty insults with since the start of the tournament. As the quarter-final match begins, Chiaotzu and Krillin battle at an even pace, until Krillin starts to edge him out of the ring. Noticing this, Chiaotzu levitates high into the air and begins firing multiple Dodon Rays at Krillin. After Tien informs Master Shen that his brother, Mercenary Tao, faced defeat at the hands of Turtle student Goku, Chiaotzu was ordered to kill Krillin at once by using a single powerful Dodon Ray. As Chiaotzu fires his Dodon Ray, Krillin manages to avoid the attack by leaping upwards into the sky. Following the aftermath of the Dodon Ray's explosion, Krillin then proceeds to hit Chiaotzu with a Kamehameha, hoping to land Chiaotzu out of bounds. However, Chiaotzu manages to recover from the attack and levitates back into the tournament arena.
After both Chiaotzu and Krillin land back into the arena, Chiaotzu unleashes his Telekinesis technique to attack Krillin's internal organs. Whilst Chiaotzu has Krillin clutching his stomach in pain by the Telekinesis technique, Master Shen then telepathically orders him to slowly kill Krillin instead of tossing him out of bounds. Chiaotzu then proceeds to kick Krillin around the ring. Krillin soon figures out that Chiaotzu needs to have his palms spread out in order to continue with his attack. When Krillin asks Chiaotzu a basic math question, Chiaotzu needs to use his fingers to come up with the answer, which stops his Telekinesis technique from working each time he counts. The second time this happens, Chiaotzu is punched out of the arena after Krillin breaks free from the Telekinesis, thus causing Chiaotzu to lose the match via ring-out, making Master Shen wish he taught Chiaotzu math.
During Tien's match with Goku in the final round, Chiaotzu is ordered by Master Shen to use his psychic abilities to constantly paralyze Goku during the match. Eventually discovering this, Tien demands that Chiaotzu must stop since he wants a fair match. After Tien refuses to kill Goku and rejects the path of an assassin, an infuriated Master Shen orders Chiaotzu to kill both Tien and Goku. Chiaotzu refuses, as not only does he want to see how the tournament ends, but he also doesn't want to kill his best friend Tien, who is fighting at his best, even if his master orders it. The Crane Hermit then grabs Chiaotzu and threatens to kill him instead. Master Roshi puts an end to this by blasting Master Shen out of the stadium with a Kamehameha, thus saving Chiaotzu and allowing Tien and Goku to continue their match.
After the match ends and Tien is declared the winner of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Roshi offers to let Chiaotzu and Tien stay at the Kame House. Tien declines the offer, stating that he and Chiaotzu cannot follow the teachings of another, even if they have both betrayed their master.
King Piccolo Saga
The good mood is short-lived, however, as Krillin is unexpectedly killed while separated momentarily from the group. Along with his body, a note was left at the scene, with the character "demon" on it. A concerned Master Roshi tells everyone that it represents an incredibly powerful Demon King, King Piccolo, who was sealed away inside an Electric Rice Cooker centuries ago by Master Roshi's and Master Shen's old master, Master Mutaito, by using the suicidal Evil Containment Wave technique, but is now apparently free again. On hearing this, Goku, still not fully recovered from his battle with Tien, rushes off to seek revenge.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Chiaotzu and Tien volunteer to help in any way they can. They are informed of the seven Dragon Balls, which when collected summon Shenron, a mystical dragon that can grant any wish. Along with Master Roshi, they venture out on a desperate quest to retrieve them in order to have the Dragon revive Krillin. When Chiaotzu and his friends eventually arrive at a Mercenary Clan's location to retrieve a Dragon Ball, Chiaotzu uses his telekinetic powers to a great advantage when the clan fire many bullets towards Roshi, Tien, and Chiaotzu. After finding several of the Dragon Balls, the Dragon Radar shows them that the remaining Dragon Balls are actually coming towards them, meaning King Piccolo is also seeking the Dragon Balls and is coming for theirs. Master Roshi, Chiaotzu, and Tien use this as a plan to capture King Piccolo once again.
Before King Piccolo can confront them, Master Roshi unexpectedly knocks Tien out and hides him in a cave. He then afterward tells Chiaotzu that there has been a change of plans, and to refrain from jumping into the fight and to remain hidden, whatever happens. Master Roshi plans on using the Evil Containment Wave against King Piccolo since Goku is thought to have already been killed. Chiaotzu, along with a semi-conscious Tien, can do nothing but witnesses Master Roshi's ultimately unsuccessful stand against the powerful Demon King, dying in the process of giving a small speech. Afterward, King Piccolo wastes no time joining the Dragon Balls together to summon Shenron and have his wish for eternal youth granted. To combat this, Chiaotzu is ordered desperately by Tien to quickly make a wish to destroy King Piccolo before the Demon King can make one himself. Chiaotzu appears from the shadows and attempts to change the wish, but he is quickly killed mid-sentence from a blast by King Piccolo, an act Tien can only watch in horror. King Piccolo continues to make his wish and then destroys the Dragon afterward, knowing it is the only thing that can stop him.
When King Piccolo leaves, Tien respectfully places Roshi and Chiaotzu's corpses close to each other neatly, and soon Chiaotzu is placed in a Freezing Capsule to preserve his body. After Goku manages to defeat King Piccolo, Chiaotzu was later wished back to life by Bulma and company, after Goku convinced Kami to bring Shenron back to life, thus reviving the Dragon Balls.
Piccolo Jr. Saga
Chiaotzu then trains with Tien, Yamcha, and the newly resurrected Krillin until they are informed by Master Roshi that, to be able to compete with Goku, they are going to need to find better ways to train than are available at the Kame House. They all head to Korin Tower and train with Korin before each going their own separate way.
Three years after King Piccolo's defeat, Chiaotzu, along with Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha, return to compete in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He, as well as the rest of the group, is surprised to see Goku, now a teenager, and looks forward to the upcoming fights.
When the lots are drawn up to determine the order of the fights, Chiaotzu carries out Tien's request to manipulate the cards so that none of the group (Tien, Yamcha, Goku, Chiaotzu, and Krillin) or Piccolo Jr., King Piccolo’s reincarnation, fight each other in the preliminaries.
The early matches seem to be going as usual, with the group quickly dispatching their opponents. When Chiaotzu faces his opponent, he turns fearful, with Tien then receiving a horrible sense of something happening to Chiaotzu. He races to the scene and finds Chiaotzu heavily wounded and unconscious, his opponent turning out to be the now cybernetically-enhanced Mercenary Tao. Tao explains that after his seeming death by Goku, he was rebuilt into the half-man half-machine before them, and had returned to take revenge on Tien and Chiaotzu for disgracing the Crane School, and Goku for defeating him before. Chiaotzu had suffered serious injuries, but was treated at the nearby hospital and later rejoined Tien and the others after Goku defeated Piccolo Jr.
Saiyan Saga
Five years after the defeat of Piccolo Jr., after learning that Goku sacrificed his life to defeat Raditz, Chiaotzu is summoned along with Tien Shinhan, Krillin, Yamcha and Yajirobe to train at The Lookout for the battle against Vegeta and Nappa. After completing Kami's training, he then continues to train with Tien until the Saiyans arrive on Earth. As Tien and Chiaotzu make their way to the battlefield, Tien requests that Chiaotzu stays behind. Chiaotzu begins insisting that he too has trained hard, thus earning his right to participate in the fight. Tien continues to pressure Chiaotzu into staying, however, Chiaotzu refuses and continues with Tien along to the battlefield.
Both Chiaotzu and Tien arrive at the battlefield prior to the fight beginning, but just before Yamcha does. Despite the Z Fighters agreeing with Vegeta to challenge the Saibamen one at a time, Chiaotzu and Gohan do not get their chance to take on any of the Saibamen.
After Yamcha is killed by a self-destructing Saibaman, and the remaining Saibamen were destroyed by Krillin and Piccolo, Nappa decides to challenge the Z Fighters himself. Whilst he powers himself up, Chiaotzu attempts to use his Telekinesis attack on Nappa, but he proves too strong for the attack to have any effect. As Nappa finishes powering up, he charges at Tien and proceeds to cut off his left arm. Chiaotzu is horrified, as he sees the mighty Saiyan brutally attacking his best friend before his eyes. After Krillin recovers from the aftershock of a Blazing Storm from Nappa, he looks around in fear that Chiaotzu was taken out by the blast. Vegeta tells Nappa to look behind him, as Chiaotzu latches himself upon Nappa's back, thus making himself a living bomb. The gigantic Saiyan struggles to remove him. After Chiaotzu telepathically says goodbye to Tien, he detonates and kills himself, in a hopeful attempt to save his friends. However, Nappa surprises the Z Fighters by smugly reappearing from the smoke unfazed, and with a small amount of damage being done to him. Tien and Krillin are then left in anger at the fact that Chiaotzu's attack did not faze Nappa at all, and thus Chiaotzu's suicide attack was in vain.
Frieza Saga
Because of the influence of Kami, after he perished, Chiaotzu's body was regenerated by Kami and was allowed to train on King Kai's Planet in the Other World as Goku did earlier. Joining him were the other warriors who also perished in the battle against the Saiyans: Tien, Piccolo, and Yamcha. On King Kai's planet, King Kai tells Goku that they all crossed Snake Way in a far shorter time than he did and that they all requested for tougher training than what Goku had received.
Chiaotzu, along with Tien and Yamcha, remain on King Kai's planet and learns of everyone's (Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, Gohan, Dende, and Piccolo fused with Nail) mighty struggle with the evil tyrant Frieza on planet Namek. In a filler scenario, he defeated Guldo of the Ginyu Force with relative ease.
After Yamcha reports Goku's victory, he then relays that Namekian Dragon Balls can revive those who died more times, specifically meaning Chiaotzu, Goku, and Krillin can be revived too, delighting him
He is eventually wished back to life a second time along with Tien by a wish made to Porunga. After returning to Earth, Chiaotzu and Tien go into solitude, training in the mountains.
Frieza-Androids Interlude
A year later, whilst Chiaotzu and Tien are training in the mountains, they are interrupted when they sense two powerful evil kis heading towards Earth. They then fly to the location of where the kis are coming from. Both Chiaotzu and Tien are surprised to find Vegeta (who was somewhat reformed during the crisis on Namek and now resides on Earth with Bulma) and the other Z Fighters who inform them that the ki they are detecting is Frieza, who somehow survived. When Frieza does land, he is quickly dispatched by an unknown mysterious youth. Piccolo, overhearing the youth's private conversation with Goku, tells everyone the warning that two incredibly powerful Androids will attack within three years.
This is the main point where Chiaotzu's importance begins to drop off since as one of the least powerful Z Fighters he can't contribute much. Chiaotzu now usually stays in the background, mostly training with Tien in the frozen northern wastes. He sometimes stays at the Kame House with Master Roshi, Puar, and Oolong.
Androids Saga
After the three years had passed, the rest of the Z Fighters appear to the location where the androids would soon show up. Tien tells the others that Chiaotzu did indeed train with him for the arrival of the androids, but thought it was best to leave him behind, as Tien felt he would not have been able to keep up with the battle, which Goku agreed with. During this time, Chiaotzu proceeded to cook for Master Roshi, Puar, and Oolong. He also met Maron, who had returned looking for Krillin. After the rest of the Z-Fighters were defeated by Androids 17 and 18, Chiaotzu left with Tien, after being informed about the seriousness of the situation.
Cell Saga
Chiaotzu later reappears in what seems to be a training area, where he and Tien both sense Cell's ki.
Due to a possible request from Tien, Chiaotzu also does not appear at the Cell Games with the other Z Fighters or the fight against the Cell Juniors.
Majin Buu Saga
He makes an appearance with Tien as they are traveling in the mountains; he is interrupted when they both sense Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan 3 form.
Chiaotzu later reappears alongside Tien whilst they are training in the mountains. Here, himself and Tien manage to evade being hit by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack, which was used to exterminate the population of Earth. They then briefly examine the small craters left behind by Super Buu's attack.
He is killed along with Tien when Kid Buu blows up the Earth using the Planet Burst and is later wished back to life along with everyone else. Afterward, he and Tien later give their energy to the Super Spirit Bomb along with everyone else on Earth, so that Goku can destroy Kid Buu. He is later seen at a party at Bulma's house.
After the end of the Buu saga, Chiaotzu helps out with farming together with Tien Shinhan. His work utilizing his telekinetic powers has a reputation for its efficiency, and he is hired at an expensive rate by farmers nearby, so he apparently has a surprisingly large amount of money saved away.
God of Destruction Beerus Saga
Chiaotzu, along with Tien Shinhan, attends Bulma's birthday party. On the way there, they encounter Krillin, 18, Marron, Yamcha, and Puar. At the party, Chiaotzu plays with Marron during this event. The God of Destruction, Beerus shows up and decides to participate in the activities while searching for the Super Saiyan God. He eventually gets angry over not getting pudding from Buu. After Beerus takes out the Z-Fighters presently there, he decides to destroy the Earth. Chiaotzu stays by Tien Shinhan until Goku arrives from King Kai's planet and asks Beerus for more time.
Goku uses this time to summon Shenron and ask him how to summon a Super Saiyan God. With the help of Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Videl (who is presently pregnant with Pan), Goku is able to become a Super Saiyan God. Super Saiyan God Goku and Beerus start clashing throughout Earth and eventually through space. Chiaotzu watches the fight from Bulma's aircraft after Goku and Beerus get too far for them to see. Their fight eventually descends to Earth but Goku loses in the end. Beerus is prepared to destroy the Earth but falls asleep with preparing a blast. Whis, Beerus' attendant takes Beerus home.
Golden Frieza Saga
Sometime after the battle with the God of Destruction Beerus, Chiaotzu is farming with Tien Shinhan when suddenly the sky darkens so they realize Shenron has been summoned. During the Golden Frieza Saga, Tien mentions to Gohan and Piccolo he is sorry he didn't bring Chiaotzu to the battle with Frieza's Army as the 1000 soldiers go out of the tyrant's ship - an alternation of the claim made in the movie. Chiaotzu dies when Frieza uses his Emperor's Blast to blow up the Earth, but his death is undone by Whis' who draws back time to the moment SSB Vegeta defeated Frieza.
Universe 6 Saga
Chiaotzu is traveling with Goku and the rest of the gang to the Nameless Planet where the Tournament of Destroyers is being held and they're being taken there by Whis in his box. After two hours and forty-five minutes of traveling, they arrive on the Nameless Planet. Chiaotzu is a bystander and watches the tournament from the stands.
Copy-Vegeta Saga
At the celebration party, Chiaotzu is seen flying Marron around. He later also uses his telekinesis to try to stop Goku from trying to spar Monaka, to no avail.
Universe Survival Saga
Chiaotzu is seen walking on the beach with Tien after a training session.
After a few days (with 9 hours and 40 minutes until the Tournament of Power will begin) it is revealed both Chiaotzu and Tien now run a dojo called "the Tien-Shin Style Dojo". Chiaotzu opens the door to Yurin, an ex-Crane School fighter, who came there to get revenge against Tien for leaving her behind when they left the Crane School and takes her to meet Tien. Afterward, when Goku arrives to recruit Tien and Master Roshi, we learn that Tien and Chiaotzu haven't met Goku since the U6 Tournament.
Afterwards, the town next to the dojo is being attacked by Tien's students under Yurin's talisman spells, Goku uses Instant Transmission to take Tien, Chiaotzu, and Roshi to the town, there Tien asks Chiaotzu and Goku to take care of his possessed students, which they do, but at first Chiaotzu's suppressed attack towards them isn't enough. When Roshi is taken under Yurin's spell and manages to defeat Tien, Chiaotzu is worried about his best friend, but Goku saves him. When Goku is charging his Kamehameha at the possessed Full Power Roshi, the defeated Tien asks Chiaotzu to use his psychic powers against Yurin, so he shoots a wind bubble towards her skirt to lift it up and weakens her complete possession of Roshi before Goku hit him. After Yurin is stopped Tien agrees to take her as his student, which makes Chiaotzu show his concerns and to speak against this idea.
Shortly after, Chiaotzu goes to a nearby restaurant to eat dinner with Tien, Roshi, and Goku. After a while of eating with Tien's paying for the expensive treat due to Goku's Saiyan hunger, Gohan and Piccolo arrive and invite Goku to test their new strength. Goku accepts it but wants Tien to tag in with him in a 2 on 2 fight. Chiaotzu stands on a near cliff and watches the battle with Roshi talking with him. After Piccolo and Tien had been taken out, they join Chiaotzu and Roshi to view the battle between Potential Unleashed Gohan and Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken Goku.