Ino Yamanaka

Ino Yamanaka is a character from the Naruto anime and manga.

Ino is a kunoichi of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan. She and her fellow members of Team Asuma are their generation's Ino–Shika–Chō trio.

In the AWA fics, Ino is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance
Ino has fair skin, blue eyes (sometimes seen as green in the manga), and long platinum blonde hair worn in a ponytail, with bangs framing the right side of her face. Her hair is seen in different lengths: in Part I, her ponytail extends to her waist, but it is later cut and grows to shoulder-length; in Part II, the bangs grow to cover half of her face, her ponytail becomes waist-length, and she sports a red clip on the left; in the The Last: Naruto the Movie, her hair is hung loosely and extends to her calves; as an adult, her hairstyle returns to its shape in Part II, but her ponytail reaches her upper-back and sports a black clip. In Part II, Sai mentions that Ino is very beautiful.

Ino regularly wears a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt. In Part I, she sports this attire with bandages on her abdomen and legs, small hoop-earrings, her forehead protector worn as a belt, and for a time, white arm warmers. In Part II, Ino's outfit is slightly more revealing as she discards her forehead protector and bandages while exposing her midriff and wears mesh armour on her thighs, elbows and knees. She also replaces her hoop earrings with studs, a gift from Asuma Sarutobi. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino dons the standard Konoha infantry flak jacket and assorted clothing. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, she wears a longer skirt that reaches her ankles, high-heeled sandals and pink lipstick. As an adult, Ino wears her purple outfit again exposing her midriff with one mesh warmer on her left arm and open-toed sandals. She also dons the standard Konoha uniform while on missions.

Personality
From a young age, Ino has been confident, friendly, bold, and outspoken, occasionally lashing out at others if their personal habits bother her. She is generally more motivated than her teammates Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi and tends to take charge of them, a characteristic she would later pass on to her son, Inojin. Shikamaru, despite finding most girls "troublesome", typically offers no resistance to Ino's forceful behavior, being unwilling to deal with her reaction if things don't happen her way. She is also prideful in her appearance and often tries to lose weight by dieting in the hopes that it will make her more attractive to boys; she even jokingly suggests that Chōji should do the same to attract girls. Ino is quite knowledgeable about different types and meanings of flowers, sometimes making analogies to them when talking.

Despite her assertiveness and uppity demeanour, Ino is a compassionate and kind person at heart, having been raised to embody the meaning of the bush clover: a blunt, candid love who treasures the bonds with her friends. It is these qualities that earned Sakura Haruno's friendship, defending Sakura from bullies who teased her and helping her become confident. Their warm friendship developed into a bitter rivalry over the following years, fueled by competition for Sasuke's affections, ninjutsu and even trading insults, with Ino as "Ino-pig" and Sakura as "Forehead Girl". After the Chūnin Exams, Ino becomes impressed by Sakura's growth and they rekindle their friendship, while maintaining their rivalry on more amiable terms. She cares greatly for her teammates as well, being relieved that they survived after the failed Sasuke Recovery Mission, promising her sensei, Asuma Sarutobi to look after them after he dies, and during the Fourth Shinobi World War, encouraging them to stay strong in the face of danger. By the time of his death, Inoichi believed that Ino had truly blossomed into the bush clover of the Yamanaka Clan, and is proud of her bonds with her friends.

Ino had the same infatuation on Sasuke that most other girls in their Academy class had, due to his good looks and cool personality. Even after Sasuke's defection from Konoha, Ino largely retained her feelings for him in Part II: she cried when he was declared an international criminal, and pictured him as the "love" the bush clover symbolises during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Ino meets Sai in Part II, who not only replaces Sasuke on Team 7, but also strongly resembles him in appearance. For this reason, Ino becomes immediately smitten with him, flirting with him when first introduced and blushing when Sai called her beautiful. Although her Infinite Tsukuyomi dream reveals she likes the idea of Sasuke and Sai fighting over her, Ino's affections ultimately shift toward Sai, showing a deeper desire to know more about him as she risks her life to save him in Shikamaru Hiden. Sai reciprocates Ino's feelings and the two marry years later, having a son, Inojin. Even after many years together Ino's love for Sai is as strong as ever, occasionally acting how she did when they first met. As a mother, Ino's personality is relatively the same, but she has greater respect for her clan and its traditions, insisting they be passed down to the next generation to form a new Ino–Shika–Chō.

Abilities
Ino was noted to be an exceptional kunoichi by Asuma, and by her father's admission, a kunoichi with the potential to become the Yamanaka clan's greatest member. She becomes a chūnin during the time-skip, and by the Fourth Shinobi World War, her improved skills gained further praise from her father.

Ino showed to be skilled at chakra control, as seen when she used her own cut hair to bind a target. In Part II, her chakra control improved greatly, having been made a medical-nin, and being chosen to help seal the Three-Tails. She could also transfer her chakra to others.

Although Ino rarely uses taijutsu, she has proven to be skilled enough in her battle against Sakura during the Chūnin Exams, and against a reincarnated Asuma in the Fourth Shinobi World War, a proficient taijutsu user himself. Ino has also shown impressive strength and speed, able to tackle Chōji (with increased weight from his enlarged arm) away from Asuma's Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique. Two years after the war, while usually positioned near the back lines during close ranged combat situations, her taijutsu has improved enough to support Sai in defeating multiple amount of enemies.

Ino has great sensory perception, able to detect changes in another person's chakra. She can lock onto an enemy's chakra signature and transfer the information to her allies for their benefit. She has also learned medical ninjutsu over the time-skip, and was noted to have mastered it by Part II. She is skilled enough to heal fatal wounds, and tell the severity of an attack by just a glance. Ino also learned to create poisons of her own that even other poison users have difficulty countering with antidotes, which she uses to coat her weapons. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, she possessed the Earth, Water, Yin and Yang Release nature transformations. With Earth Release, she could erect a rock wall to protect against attacks. She would later acquire Fire Release as well.

As a Yamanaka, Ino specialises in mind-affecting techniques, such as the Mind Body Switch Technique, which allows her to briefly possess a target and take control of their actions. She can also use this technique on animals for reconnaissance and espionage, as it was originally intended. Ino's body, however, is left vulnerable to attack while the technique is active, and therefore it is not suited for battle. She can also be forced out of the body if the opponent's will is strong enough. In the anime, she learns the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, which allows her to force her enemies to attack each other.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino's speed with the Mind Body Switch Technique has improved greatly; able to quickly to save her allies from incoming danger on multiple occasions. Ino has also learned the Mind Clone Switch Technique, which allows her to control multiple targets at once. With the Mind Body Transmission Technique, she can communicate telepathically with someone, convey memories and feelings to them. She is quite skilled with this technique, able to connect the entire Allied Shinobi Forces though a telepathic link. She can also transmit what she senses into a target's mind. By making physical contact with a person, they can also communicate with one another while the technique is active. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Ino's telepathic range has expanded enough to receive and broadcast messages across the Five Great Shinobi Countries in a short period of time.

Trivia

 * The name "Ino" can be short for "Inoshishi" which means "boar", hence Sakura calling her Ino-pig-chan. Her family name "Yamanaka" means "among the mountains". Wild boar are heavily associated with mountains in Japan, and are even called the whales of the mountains, because of the amount of meat they produce.


 * The name "Ino" is sometimes used as a given name meaning "Great Field".
 * "Ino" is also a name of a town in the Agawa District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan.


 * Her family owns a flower shop called Yamanaka Flowers, where she works part-time.
 * In the manga, it was never revealed how or why Ino became a medical-nin. Her choice to study under Tsunade was anime-exclusive.


 * Ino's hobby is shopping.
 * Ino wishes for a rematch with Sakura.
 * Ino's favourite foods are cherry tomatoes and pudding, while her least favourite is sashimi.
 * Ino has completed 40 official missions in total: 23 D-rank, 9 C-rank, 6 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank.