Ino Yamanaka

Ino Yamanaka is a female anime and manga character who features in Naruto.

Biography

Origin

Ino Yamanaka (Japanese: 山中 いの, Hepburn: Yamanaka Ino) was a female human ninja who was born in the Ninja World as the daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka (山中いのいち, Yamanaka Inoichi) who was the head of the Yamanaka clan in the ninja village of Konohagakure.

At the Academy, she met Sakura Haruno, who was being teased by other kids for her large forehead. Ino defended Sakura from the bullies and encouraged her to embrace her forehead rather than hide it, becoming good friends with her. Over the following years, Ino's guidance and friendship helped Sakura become more confident and develop into her own person. However, when Sakura found out that they had a crush on the same boy, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura approached Ino, telling her of her liking towards Sasuke. This caused them to end their friendship, starting their dislike towards each other in the beginning of the series

Naruto

Despite how recently they graduated from the Academy, Asuma enters Team 10 in the Chūnin Exams being held in Konoha. Shortly before the exams begin, Ino greets Sasuke by cheerfully hugging him, much to his, and of course, Sakura's chagrin. For the first stage of the exams, they are given a written test with ten questions too difficult for the standard genin to be able to answer, and for which reason participants are expected to cheat without getting caught. Ino uses her Mind Body Switch Technique to copy answers from Sakura's exam sheet and transfer the information to Shikamaru and Chōji. For the second stage of the exams, Team 10 enters the Forest of Death to take part in a five-day survival exercise. Team 10 initially spends their time avoiding conflict, hiding whenever they come across another team. When they are soon noticed by Neji Hyūga, Ino tries using her charm to convince Neji into giving her team the scroll, though she fails miserably and her team immediately retreats from Neji's intimidation. When they discover Sakura defending her teammates from a team of Oto-nin by herself, Ino recalls her childhood memories of their friendship and finally decides to help her. Team 10 initiates Formation Ino–Shika–Chō: Chōji attacks Zaku Abumi with Human Bullet Tank, Shikamaru immobilises Dosu Kinuta with his Shadow Imitation Technique, and Ino uses her Mind Body Switch on Kin Tsuchi. Ino tries to use Kin as a hostage, but Zaku opts to attack Kin himself rather than let her be used against him. Too tired to offer much more of a fight, Team 10 wonders what to do. When Sasuke regains consciousness and activates his new cursed seal, Ino becomes frightened by the dark change in Sasuke's chakra and released herself from Kin's body. After the Oto-nin retreat, the Konoha genin take their leave, but not before Ino fixes Sakura's hair.

After passing the second stage, the remaining genin take part in one-on-one preliminary matches. For her match, Ino was paired against Sakura. They start by trading insults and then punches, surprising Ino because Sakura proves her equal in both categories. Frustrated, Ino follows Sakura's earlier example by cutting her hair, a ruse that allows her to immobilise Sakura while she uses her Mind Body Switch Technique. In control of Sakura's body, Ino tries to make her forfeit the match, but she is stopped and exorcised by Inner Sakura. They are both exhausted by this, but exchange one final blow, knocking both out. When they later wake up, Ino informs her that their match was ruled a tie, and that therefore neither of them will continue to the finals. Despite this, they decide to rekindle their friendship, though can't help but continue to bicker over Sasuke. A few days later, Ino accompanies Sakura to visit Sasuke at the hospital with flowers, but discover he is gone. Instead, they see Lee training despite his injuries, causing him to fall unconscious as a consequence. On the day of the finals, Ino sat with Sakura in the audience and tried to cheer her up when Sasuke hadn't arrived yet. She becomes impressed by Naruto's victory over Neji and cheers for Shikamaru in his match with Temari, though is left shocked when he voluntarily gives up. Sasuke finally arrives for his match with Gaara, and Ino watches the fight with interest, noting to Sakura that her teammates are amazing. Ino and the rest of the audience are put to sleep by genjutsu as the Konoha Crush begins. Several days after the invasion is successfully repelled, she attends the Third Hokage's funeral. Team 10 goes to Yakiniku Q to celebrate Shikamaru's promotion to chūnin, though Ino becomes angered by Chōji's gluttony and nearly insults him before Shikamaru silences her. She reveals she has been dieting to lose weight and make her more attractive, and jokingly suggests for Chōji to do the same before walking off. After the failed attempt to stop Sasuke from defecting from Konoha, Ino and Sakura visited the injured at the hospital, showing great relief at Chōji's survival due to the Fifth Hokage's efforts.

Shippūden

Upon the return of Team Kakashi, Ino along with her team came to meet them where they met Sasuke's replacement who was a young ninja named Sai. Ino was immediately smitten by him as she saw within Sai a similar quality as Sasuke. Their sensei Asuma Sarutobi wanted to have a private discussion with the injured Kakashi Hatake and thus their two respective set of students went to have a meal together. During their dinner, she attempted to get to know Sai together who was still struggling in the basics in human interaction and in an effort to make friends he called Ino 'beautiful' which made her blush.

Ino and Chōji are assigned to one of the Twenty Platoons, a task-force assigned to hunt down Akatsuki members within the Land of Fire. Led by Raidō Namiashi and Aoba Yamashiro, the team is called in for back-up when Asuma's team engages Hidan and Kakuzu of Akatsuki. When they arrive, however, the Akatsuki members flee and Asuma's injuries are too severe for Ino to heal. Sensing his death, Asuma gives parting words to his students: he praises Ino's confident personality and tells her to look after Shikamaru and Chōji, as well as to not lose to Sakura in any pursuit. Ino tearfully mourns Asuma's death and later attended his funeral in Konoha with Choji, asking him why Shikamaru had not arrived. Shikamaru then gathered her and Choji in the early morning as they sought to hunt down the Akatsuki that had killed their sensei. They were confronted by Tsunade who ordered them to stand down but Kakashi Hatake convinced her that the three young shinobi were determined to embark on this mission. Instead, he offered to accompany them and ensure the success of their mission with the Hokage reluctantly agreeing to the assignment. This saw Team Asamu tracking the Akatsuki where they ambushed the pair though their initial plan to take down the two villainous shinobi failed. The team engages the Akatsuki duo in battle, though Ino cannot contribute much to the fight as her Mind Body Switch alone is too risky to use in battle and due to her status as a Medical-nin. Since Hidan and Kakuzu are formidable working together, Team 10 realises the duo need to be separated if they're to be defeated. Ino volunteers to lead Hidan away, but Shikamaru insists her not to and goes in her place. Even with each side one member short, Kakuzu still manages to easily overwhelm and capture Kakashi and Team 10. His attempt to kill them is blocked by the combined efforts of Naruto and Yamato, who arrive with Sakura and Sai to lend assistance. While Sakura and Sai set out to help Shikamaru, Naruto fights Kakuzu and eventually defeats him with his newly-created Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Afterwards, Ino heals Naruto's injuries and praises him for his improved skills before the teams return to Konoha. In the anime, Ino visits Neji and Hinata Hyūga and told them about the mission's events and Naruto's new technique.

When Pain's Assault on Konoha begins, Ino rushed to the village's Intelligence Division to inform her father of the attack. Shizune soon arrives and they exchange information about Pain's identity and the method of his Six Paths Technique. They are soon attacked by the Animal Path's Rhinoceros, but are shielded by segments of Katsuyu. They relocate with the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team to further deduce Pain's location, though the Human Path ambushes them and captures Shizune, reading her mind before killing her. Following this loss, Ino came to mourn Shizune's death. Pain later destroys the village, but Ino and the villagers saved from harm by Katsuyu. While Naruto fights Pain alone, she and her father meet up with Shikamaru and Shikaku Nara to pool their knowledge about Pain. With their combined information, they hypothesise that Pain is actually being controlled remotely by someone, likely from the highest point near Konoha. Ino and Shikamaru stay behind while their fathers search for Pain, who is eventually defeated by Naruto and revives everyone he killed in Konoha. Upon Naruto's return to Konoha, Ino joins in the celebration of his victory; in the anime, she says she could almost fall for Naruto, surprising Chōji and Shikamaru. News reaches Konoha of Sasuke's recent activity with Akatsuki, namely his attack against Kumogakure-ninja. Most of the Konoha 11 decide that Sasuke can no longer be allowed to implicate Konoha in his criminal deeds and they resolve to personally kill him. Crestfallen by this decision, Ino cries uncontrollably over Sasuke and has to be comforted by Chōji and Tenten. When Naruto returns to Konoha after learning of this and having his own confrontation with Sasuke, he requests that they leave dealing with Sasuke to him.

At the onset of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino came to join the Allied Shinobi Forces where she was assigned to the Fifth Division. This unit was tasked with providing support to the First Division allowing her to be reunited with Choji and Shikamaru. At the time, they faced Kinkaku of the infamous Gold and Silver Brothers from the the hidden cloud who had been reanimated to serve the Akatsuki. Going into a rage, the ninja used his stolen Nine-Tails chakra to enter into a more powered state where he went on a rampage for the defeat of his brother. This was until Team 10 used the Ino-Shika-Cho formation that allowed them to capture him and seal Kinkaku in the Kohaku no Jōhei. Team 10 then were confronted by a reanimated Kakuzu who was keen to fight the trio but revealed that their former sensei Asuma had similarly been brought back to serve the Akatsuki. Thus, Team 10 had to battle their own mentor where they did not wish to fight him but at the same time were best qualified to battle their sensei.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Ino Yamanaka was a female human with fair skin, light blue eyes and long platinum blonde hair that she wore in a ponytail with bangs framing the right side of her face. As a young child, her hair was short but later her hair grew to hip-length and is tied into a high ponytail. Her hair grew back to hip-length ponytail with her bangs became thicker, hiding most of her right eye. In the Blank Period, her hair was hung loosely and extends to her calves; as an adult, her hairstyle returned to its old shape but her ponytail reaches her upper-back and sports a black clip. Due to her being pretty, one of the names that was given to her was Mrs. Beauty (美人さん, Bijin-san).

From childhood, she had been shown to be a confident, friendly, bold and outspoken girl who sometimes lashed out at others if their personal habits bothered her.

She was somewhat prideful of her appearance and often tried to lose weight by dieting in the hopes that it would make her more attractive to boys.

She once told her friend Sakura that there was no meaning to a flower unless it bloomed.

Though assertive, she was a compassionate and kind girl at heart who was blunt but displayed candid love that treasured the bonds with her friends.

It was Ino's nature that helped her become friends with the shy Sakura Haruno (春野サクラ Haruno Sakura) when both were young children. In that time, Sakura was often teased and picked on due to her appearance with Ino stepping in to protect her. This led to the pair becoming close friends as a result with Ino being instrumental in helping Sakura be more assertive and confident. Their friendship though came to be deeply affected by their rivalry over Sasuke Uchiha.

As such, she was like many of the girls in the academy that were infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha (うちはサスケ, Uchiha Sasuke). Similar to them, this stemmed from his good looks and cool personality. Even after Sasuke's defection from Konoha, Ino largely retained her feelings for him.

Later on, she was attracted to Sai Yamanaka (山中サイ, Yamanaka Sai) as she qualities similar to Sasuke in him. This eventually led to the two entering into a romance and getting married where he took her family name. Years later, the pair had a child together with this being a son named Inojin Yamanaka (山中いのじん, Yamanaka Inojin).

Powers and abilities

Born a human, Ino Yamanaka was capable of manipulating chakra allowing her to perform a number of jutsu and thus serve as a shinobi. As a genin, her mentor Asuma came to note that she was an exceptional kunoichi. Her own father had said that Ino was a kunoichi with the potential to become the strongest member of the Yamanaka clan.

She had incredible sensory perception to the point that she was able to detect changes in another person's chakra. Ino could lock onto an enemy's chakra signature and transfer the information to her allies for their benefit.

By the era of the Seventh Hokage, Ino could skilfully probe people's minds for information. She could delve into the mind of a severely injured individual to extract his memories without the help of a machine. Her talents for it also aided in interrogating people to learn their true nature and determine whether they are under the influence of someone else.

Seeking to be more useful, Ino later underwent training to become a medical ninja where she requested Sakura to help convince Lady Tsunade to train her. Her skill level allowed her to assess the condition of a patient.

She knew a number of techniques that included:

• Mind Body Switch Technique (心転身の術­, Shintenshin no Jutsu) :
• Mind Body Disturbance Technique (心乱身の術­, Shinranshin no Jutsu) :
• Mind Body Transmission Technique (心伝身の術­, Shindenshin no Jutsu) :
• Mind Clone Switch Technique (心転分身の術­, Shinten Bunshin no Jutsu) :

She can also use this technique on animals for reconnaissance and espionage, as it was originally intended. Typically, her mind transfer techniques were used in conjunction with Shikamaru's shadow possession ability. This was to ensure that the target was immobilised to ensure her taking control of them. Otherwise, there was a risk of her missing her target which would mean it would take sometime for her to return to her body which was vulnerable to an attack in that state.

Ino was a member of the Yamanaka Clan (山中一族, Yamanaka Ichizoku) that were a family of shinobi found in Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里, Konohagakure no Sato, English TV: "Village Hidden in the Leaves"). They specialised in mind related techniques with owning and running a flower shop in the village. After graduating from the Academy, she came to be placed on Team 10 (第10班 第十班, Daijippan) that was also known as Team Asuma (アスマ班, Asuma-Han) after their sensei. She and her teammates were considered their generation's Ino–Shika–Chō Trio (いの しか ちょうトリオ, Ino–Shika–Chō Torio) who used their abilities to compliment one another in the field.

Notes

• Ino Yamanaka was created by Masashi Kishimoto where he featured in the setting of Naruto.

In other media

Television

• In Naruto, Ino Yamanaka appeared in the setting of the anime adaptation where she was voiced by Japanese voice actress Ryoka Yuzuki and by English voice actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey.

Appearances

• Naruto:
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:

External Links

• Naruto Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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