Ino Yamanaka

Ino Yamanaka is a supporting character in the manga/anime series Naruto and its sequel series Boruto. She is a chūnin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan and a member of Team Asuma, as well as the best friend and former rival of Sakura Haruno and a close comrade of Naruto Uzumaki. 
She once had a crush on Sasuke Uchiha, but she later became the love interest of Sai. She eventually marries Sai and together they have a son named Inojin Yamanaka.
She is voiced by Ryōka Yuzuki in the Japanese version of the anime, and by in the English version.
==Appearance==
Ino has pale skin, light blue eyes (sometimes seen as green in the manga), and long light 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==
Since her childhood, Ino has been a confident, friendly, bold and outspoken girl, sometimes lashing out at others if their personal habits bother her. She is generally more motivated than her team-mates Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi and tends to take charge of them. 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, Ino is a compassionate and kind girl 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 of Sasuke's affections, ninjutsu and even trading insults, with Ino as "Ino-pig" and Sakura as "Forehead Girl" (デコリーン, Dekorīn, English TV: Billboard Brow). 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 team-mates 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 to embody the title of purple bush clover of the Yamanaka Clan's crest, 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 symbolizes 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 Hidan. Sai reciprocates Ino's feelings and the two marry years later, having a son, Inojin. 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. Despite being a mother and Botanist, she still continues her shinobi career which proves she is hardworking and enthusiastic.
==Abilities==
Ino used to have the best grades of the kunoichi of her class. Later, as genin, she was noted to be an exceptional kunoichi that could rival Sakura Haruno in battle. After the time-skip, she becomes a chūnin and learns medical ninjutsu; and her skills in Mind Body switched are praised for her speed by her father. As adult, she was made the leader of the Konoha Barrier team and she also interrogates using the mind reading techniques from her clan.
===Ninjutsu===
By Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino possessed Earth, Water, Fire, Yin and Yang release chakra natures, and with Earth release chakra nature, she could erect a defensive mud wall to protect against attacks.
===Yamanaka Clan Techniques===
Ino inherited the secret ninjutsu from her clan, which specialize in mind-affecting techniques. Her signature technique is the Mind Body Switch Technique, a technique which allows her to possess a body and take control over their actions and abilities; it allows her to take advantage of animal's senses for tracking and espionage, In the anime, she used the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, which makes her opponents fight eac other. 
In the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino mastered a technique called Mind Clone Switch Technique, which allows her to control two targets at the same time. In addition, her clan uses telepathy to communicate with one or more people at the same time. She used this technique to connect 800 of the Allied Shinobi Forces and the flying Gokage. Unlike her father, Ino can convey feelings and images too. Two years later, Ino uses a chakra transmission device to recieve message from the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
As adult, Ino can use her clan's mind reading techniques to interrogate people that have fainted and check if they are under the influence of an enemy.
=== Sensory Ninjutsu ===
Like most of the Yamanaka Clan members, Ino has sensory perception that allows her to detect chakra signatures and its nature. This feat promoted her as the leader of the Konoha Barrier Team. Moreover, her sensory perception allows her to relay her senses into another person to facilitate attacks. In the anime, her sensory perception is implied to be the best of her clan.
===Medical Ninjutsu===
In the anime, Ino learnt medical ninjutsu as Sakura's junior under the guidance of Tsunade. It was confirmed that she mastered it and is able to heal wounds and assess the condition of a patient. She can also use anesthetics on her weapons.
===Physical Prowress and Chakra===
Ino has great chakra control, able to immobilize a target using her own chakra as medium. In the anime, she could transfer her chakra to other shinobi.
Ino isn't particularly skilled in taijutsu, but she could hold her own against Sakura Haruno in the Chūnin Exams and save a partially enlarged Chōji from Asuma's attack. 
==Creation and Concept==
Ino Yamanaka was created to be the life-long rival at the same time best friend of the main female heroine of the series, Sakura Haruno. Ino is the main protagonist from the Yamanaka Clan and she is also one of the three ninjas that make up Team 10, also known as the Sixteenth generation of the Legendary Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. Ino represents the "Ino" part of the trio.
Masashi Kishimoto made Ino Yamanaka's character concept such that of the Thunberg's Bushclover, a special flower which was named after a Swedish Botanist, Carl Peter Thunberg. In Japan, the Thunberg's Purple Bushclover is famous for it's beauty and the bright purple colour, and the flower can become an invasive species, taking over space of other plants, which sounds just like Ino and her jutsu.
Moreover, the plant is known to produce blooms of the flower in Falls, which happens to land just after Ino's birthday on September 23. In addition, the primary colour of Ino's costume has remained purple throughout the series and she has received the title of the Purple Bushclover by her father and the title of Mrs. Beauty by Sai. Further evidence, her family owns a flower shop in the village where she works part time as a botanist when she is not on ninja missions.
==Trivia==
*Ino is a very popular character, having being ranked in the Top 30 in all seven Naruto popularity polls. Her highest rank is 14th, and lowest rank is 28th.
*Her English voice actress, Colleen O'Shaugnessey, also voiced Sora Takenouchi in Digimon Adventure series, Yoshino Fujieda in Digimon Data Squad, Angie Hinomoto in Digimon Fusion, Wasp in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Tails in Sonic Boom and the live-action Sonic film franchise, Jazz Fenton in Danny Phantom, and Kelsey in Glitter Force,
==External Links==
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*Ino Yamanaka on the Near Pure Good Wiki
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