Ino Yamanaka

Ino is an only child and she was a popular student during her time in the Academy. She met Sakura Haruno, who was teased for her huge forehead. Ino defended her from the bullies and encouraged her to embrace her forehead rather than hiding it and being embarrassed about it. From that day onwards they became very good friends.

Over the years, Ino's guidance helped Sakura become more confident and she started becoming her own person. When Sakura found out that they had a crush on the same boy, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura went to Ino and confessed that she also liked him. This causes them to end their friendship and they start to dislike each other.

Ino has played a huge part in missions, like during the Pain attack. When he attacks Konoha, Ino rushes to Konoha's intelligence division to inform her father about the attack. After Shizune arrives they exchange information they had on Pain's true identity and the workings of his Six Paths technique. They try to go to Konoha's Cryptanalysis Team to further deduce where Pain's true body is but they're ambushed by the Human Path who captures Shizune and kills her. As Ino is mourning Shizune's death she is able to meet up with Shikamaru and their fathers and locate Pain's hideout where his real body is located, and that the Pain who is attacking the village is controlled by the person who's hiding.

She also contributed a lot during the Fourth Great Shinobi War and did not let her team waver or get affected by their feelings when they were confronted by a reincarnated Asuma and had to battle him. Even before her father dies he relays a message to her that he is proud of her and the plan they had for the Allied Shinobi Forces. Ino didn't have time to grieve her father’s death and courageously carried out his orders. With her improved Mind Body Switch Technique she could telepathically connect to everyone on the battlefield and explain to them the plan at hand which would help them win the battle.

From her childhood, Ino has always been a confident, bold and outspoken girl. She has a mild temper and occasionally lashes out at people if they bother her too much. At the same time she is quite friendly and loyal toward her friends and is always more motivated than her teammates and tends to take charge of them.

She later on passes on this personality trait to her son Inojin. Even though Shikamaru finds girls troublesome, he has no resistance to Ino's forceful behavior and is unwilling to deal with her reactions when things go her way. She has pride regarding her appearance and tries to lose weight by dieting so that she can be more attractive to the boys and jokingly also tells Choji that he should do the same thing so that he can attract girls. Ino is quite knowledgeable regarding different types of flowers and knows what they mean too.

Even though she is quite assertive, Ino is quite compassionate and a kind person at heart. She is the kind of person who cherishes her bonds with her friends. It was these qualities that made Sakura become her friend. She had defended Sakura from the bullies who teased her for her broad forehead and she helped her become more confident.

Their friendship soon got replaced with rivalry over who could win Sasuke's heart and they even used to call each other insults like ' Ino pig' and 'Forehead girl'. After the chunin exams, Ino was quite impressed by Sakura's growth over the years and they started to rekindle their friendship. She also promised Asuma that she'll look after Shikamaru and Choji when he passed away. At the time of his death, Inoichi believed that Ino had truly blossomed into a skilled kunoichi and was proud of the bonds between her and her friends.

Just like many other girls in the academy, she also had a crush on Sasuke Uchiha as he was cool and good-looking. She cried when Sasuke was labeled as an international criminal. When Ino met Sai when he was a part of Team 7, she started crushing on him and also flirted with him when they were first introduced to each other. In her infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Sasuke and Sai are shown to be fighting over who wins her heart.

She eventually starts falling for Sai and she wants to know more about him, and even saves his life. Sai reciprocates her feelings and they get married two years later and have a son, Inojin. Even though they have been married for so long, they still are madly in love with each other like how they were when they first met. As a mother, Ino's personality still remains the same. She also has a lot of respect for her clan.

She doesn't like pushing her son into something that he isn't interested in, even if it's learning the Yamanaka Clan's techniques. Ino strongly respects her father and is doing her best in carrying on his will and leading the Yamanaka clan. She is also reasonable enough to recognize that people are mature in their own way and trusts her son to forge his own path.

Ino is fair-skinned and is of average height with light blue eyes. She had long, platinum hair with bangs that framed her face. As a child, she had short hair and when it grew out she used to tie it in a high ponytail. During the chunin exams, Ino chopped off her hair to a shoulder-length cut and kept it in a bun. After her hair grew out she used to keep it in a ponytail that reached up to her hip and her bangs hid her right eye.

Ino usually wears a purple outfit which consists of a high collar blouse with a matching apron skirt. She wears bandages on her legs and abdomen to give it a sporty look with small hoop earrings. She used to wear her forehead protector as a belt with white arm warmers. As a young adult, Ino's outfit becomes slightly revealing as she doesn't wear her forehead protector and her bandages are off, exposing her midriff. She wears mesh armor around her thighs, elbows, and knees.

She replaces the hoop earring with the earrings Asuma gave her as a gift after she passed the chunin exams along with Choji. She also wears a red hair clip. During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, she wore the standard Konoha uniform with the green flak jacket and clothing. As an adult, she wears her usual purple outfit and one mesh armor on her left arm with open-toed sandals.

Ino was seen as the kunoichi who has the potential to become the strongest member of the Yamanaka clan. After she became a chunin, her skills greatly improved and she was eventually made the head of the Konoha Barrier Team. The people of her clan look up to her.

Ino is quite skilled at chakra control and once it improved she also began studying medical ninjutsu and was one of the chosen ones to seal the Three-tails. She can even transfer her chakra to others. She rarely uses taijutsu but she is quite skilled in it. Ino has shown speed and strength during battle and is able to tackle Choji.

She has also aided Sai in defeating a lot of enemies. She uses Earth and Water Release. With Earth Release, she can erect rock walls for defense. She later on also acquired Fire Release.

Ino also has great sensory perception and can detect changes in another person's chakra. She can lock an enemy's signature chakra and send information regarding it to her allies for their benefit. She can also instinctively detect a person's chakra and can determine the potency of the chakra which made her the head of the Konoha Barrier Team; her sensory skills are the best in her clan.

She can also read people's minds for information. She can also look into the minds of the severely injured person and can extract their memories without the help of a machine. Her skills helped in interrogating people to learn their true natures or to determine if they're under the influence of someone else. Ino also learned medical ninjutsu and mastered it. She is skilled enough to heal fatal wounds and tell the severity of the attack through observation and aids in surgeries.

As a member of the Yamanaka clan, she specializes in mind affecting techniques. Her Mind Body Switch Technique allows her to possess a target and take control of their body and actions. She can also use these techniques on animals for reconnaissance. However, Ino's body is left vulnerable to be attacked while this technique is active, therefore it is not suited for battle. She can be forced out if the opponent's will is too strong for her to possess. It can also help her make her enemies attack each other.

During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Ino's speed with the Mind Body Switch Technique has improved quite greatly and she's able to save her allies from enemy attacks. Ino has also learned the Mind Clone Switch Technique which allows her to control multiple targets at once. With the help of the Body Transmission Technique, she can communicate telepathically with someone and can convey messages to them.

She can also transmit senses into a target's mind. When she makes physical contact with a person, she can communicate with one person while the technique is active. Ino's telepathic range has expanded so much that she can broadcast or receive messages across all of the Five Great Shinobi Countries.

Ino is very attentive and is able to determine a person's occupation by glancing at their hands. She is also quite intelligent and graduated at the top of her class with Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame. She can be quite deceptive in battle.

Other than the series, Ino has also made appearances in movies and video games.

Movies

Naruto Shippūden the Movie

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Will of Fire

Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

Video Games

Ino Yamanaka is a playable character in the following video games:

Ino vs Team Ameno

Ino vs Sakura

Ino vs Edo Asuma

Ino vs Hidan and Kakuzu

1. "It's not a matter of can or can't, I'm doing it!"
2. "There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms."
3. "Whether it's using my sensory skills to protect the village or making people happy with the flower shop ... They are both important to me and things I want to do."
4. "I believe you have the potential to bloom into something even more beautiful than a cosmos."
5. "It's because we know him so well that we can stop him with the least risk to the army.”

Q. Why did Sakura call Ino pig?

A. Ino translates to 'pig', which is why Sakura referred to her as Ino pig.

Q. Who would win in a fight against Hinata and Ino?

A. Hinata would win the fight as she is a taijutsu specialist while Ino is an interrogation specialist.