Ino Yamanaka

is a member of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan. She and her fellow members of Team Asuma form Ino–Shika–Chō.

Background
From a young age, her father, Inoichi Yamanaka, raised her to embody the meaning of the bush clover, which symbolises a blunt, candid love. She was raised to treasure the bonds that she has with her friends, which led her to become good friends with Sakura Haruno.

In the Academy, Ino was considerably more popular and self-confident than Sakura when they met. She convinced Sakura that hiding the size of her forehead was pointless, saying that it only made her look worse. Ino gave Sakura a red ribbon to draw attention elsewhere, suggesting that Sakura had great potential, but had yet to reach it. In the anime, around this time, Ino along with Chōji and Shikamaru went searching for a set of kunai Chōji lost. During their search, they met a mysterious boy named Yota. They soon learned to their amazement that Yota had the ability to manipulate weather, especially through his emotional state. Fearing how the village would respond to an outsider considering how turmoil it had with the other nations, Ino and the others decided to hide Yota's existence, giving him shelter in a treehouse and regularly bringing him food. She also defended Sakura against her would be bullies Ami, Fuki, and Kasumi, pretending that the flowers she had launched into Ami's mouth which she said reminded her of a vase, were poisoned. This lead to ongoing arguments about Sakura's "Billboard Brow" and Ino's nickname "Ino-pig" (due to her name, Ino, meaning 'boar'). Despite all these arguments, she helped Sakura gain her confidence. When Sakura became attracted to Sasuke, and found out that Ino was attracted to him as well, Sakura ended their friendship hurting Ino in the process so she could compete with Ino for his affection. Ino later rekindled her friendship with Sakura again during the Chūnin Exams, but they are still considered rivals by many.

Personality
Ino is described as relatively cheerful but bossy to people, especially to her team-mates when they get in her way or when their behaviour annoys her. She is also very confident, kind, outspoken, and not afraid to speak her mind. Ino also takes a great deal of pride in her appearance, which is evident even during her younger days in the Academy. She also takes great effort to keep up as well as improve her appearance, as seen from her constant dieting to lose weight in the belief it will make her more attractive.

Ino tends to take charge of her team-mates due to their lazy and nonchalant natures like when she suggests that Chōji should lose weight or Shikamaru needs to stop slacking off. She, however, clearly cares for them, as shown by her relief when Chōji survived near fatal injuries. Shikamaru, despite thinking of most girls as "troublesome", typically offers no resistance, being unwilling to deal with how she reacts if she is unable to have her way. Asuma recognised the control she has over the others, and, while dying, told her to look after Chōji and Shikamaru, to ensure that they didn't get into trouble as well as to keep the two on the right track, and also not to lose to Sakura in neither ninjutsu, nor love.

By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino has demonstrated more bravery and confidence, so much so that she was unfazed when told by Shikamaru how powerful the Gold and Silver Brothers were. She even told her team-mates to man-up when their resolves began to waver. Keeping to the promise she made to Asuma, Ino has resolved to put her life on the line, to protect her team-mates and her village no matter what. By the time her father died, he believed that she had truly blossomed into the bush clover of the Yamanaka family, and is proud of her bonds with her friends.

Ino often thinks about boys. She was attracted to Sasuke and cried when he was declared an international criminal, showing that she still cared for him despite his descent into darkness. It is hinted that she still loved him during the Fourth Shinobi World War, when she pictured him as the "love" that the bush clover symbolises. When he returns, Ino runs towards him, only to be stopped by her team-mates Shikamaru and Chōji. She is also attracted to Sai, partly because he looks very similar to Sasuke. She flirts with him when first introduced. In fact, she is so attracted to them that she dreams in the Infinite Tsukuyomi that both Sai and Sasuke were fighting over her.

Years later, Ino's attraction for Sai deepens and the two get married, also having a son named Inojin. As a married mother, her personality remains largely the same as she easily scares her son for being late. At the same time, she has developed a great respect for her clan's traditions and legacy, very adamant about passing on the Yamanaka techniques to Inojin and continuing the custom of forming a new generation of Ino–Shika–Chō.

Appearance
Ino is a fair-skinned girl of average height with green eyes (blue in the anime). Her most noticeable trait in her appearance is her long, pale blonde hair, which is always seen in a high-ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. In Part I, her hair reached down to her waist until she cut it during her fight with Sakura, and afterwards, she wore a bun. It is shown that when she was younger, she had short hair that went to just above her shoulders, with the bangs held back from her face by two blue barrettes. In later Part I appearances, Ino's hair had grown to shoulder-length. In a Part I flashback of Sakura's, she describes her as "stylish and cute".

In terms of attire, Ino is more often seen wearing a pair of small silver hoop-earrings and purple, fairly revealing clothing. The purple colouring of her outfit seems to be a reference to the embodiment of the bush clover that Inoichi wanted her to be. During Part I, she wore a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar, a purple apron skirt that is cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this, and her forehead protector around her waist as a belt. During the anime filler, she stopped wearing the elbow warmers. At the Chūnin Exams finals, Ino sported an orange t-shirt that had the stylised kanji for the word inside a light green circle on the upper-left side of the chest, brown shorts, and cream-coloured elbow guards.

In Part II, Ino has gone through noticeable changes. Her hair grew to hip-length and Ino also sports a red clip in the left side of her hair. Her formerly protruding bang has now flattened against her face and the bandages around her waist have been removed, revealing her bare stomach. She also replaces the warmers on her elbows with fishnet ones and wears a pair of the same over her knees. Along with these, she wears a short, purple, sleeveless blouse, an open-front purple apron-skirt over a shorter, black skirt, with short, fishnet shorts underneath. She has stopped wearing her forehead protector. While on missions she carries a tantō just above her medical pouch. She has also changed her hoop earring to the studs given to her by her former sensei after they passed the Chūnin Exams as a long-standing tradition. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, she dons the standard uniform of the Alliance and a Konohagakure flak jacket.

In The Last: Naruto the Movie, two years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Ino's overall attire and appearance became more pronounced. Her hair bangs regained a natural lift while still covering the right side of her face, while the rest of her hair, which now hangs loosely, reaches her calves. She still wears her short purple, sleeveless blouse, and elbows fishnets. Her skirt likewise lengthens to reach her ankles, underneath mesh leggings along with high-heeled sandals. Years later, Ino began wearing her hair in its original style during Part II again, though the length of her ponytail now reaches down to her upperback. She also wears the standard Konohagakure flak jacket while on missions.

Abilities
In Part I, Ino was noted to be an exceptional kunoichi by Asuma. She was noted by her father to potentially become the greatest member of the Yamanaka clan. In Part II, Ino became a medical-nin and a chūnin, further showing her growth. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, she gained praise from her father on her improved skills.

Sensory Perception
Ino, like most members of the Yamanaka clan, is a sensor type, showing signs as early as during the second stage of the Chūnin Exams in Part I when she noted the change in Sasuke's chakra under the influences of Orochimaru's juinjutsu. In the battle against Kakuzu, Ino commented the masks emitted foul chakra. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after Minato came on the battlefield, she could sense that something was coming, which were the other Kage. Ino's aptitude as sensory type is shown to a greater extent as she is able to sense the chakra of all enemies in the area and lock onto them, before guiding her allies accordingly, as all of the enemies she sensed are hit.

Yamanaka Clan Techniques
Ino excels in the techniques of her clan, which are primarily focused around mind-affecting techniques such as the Mind Body Switch Technique, a technique predominantly used for reconnaissance and espionage, that allows the user to briefly possess someone and control that person's actions. Her body however, is left vulnerable until she cancels the technique. Despite many people thinking that this technique is unbeatable, she can still be forced out of the body if her opponent has a strong enough will. She has also been shown to be able to use the technique on animals, such as a hawk to act as a spy. The anime takes her skills a bit further by giving her the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, which causes the body of the person affected to attack those nearest to them, or immobilising their body.

By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino's timing with the Mind Body Switch Technique has improved to a point that she only needs a target to be briefly immobilised in order to invade their mind. According to Inoichi, her use and releasing of the technique has improved drastically. She was able to quickly transfer her mind into a paralysed Chōji to block a point-blank range attack from Asuma Sarutobi, and then fight skilfully inside Chōji's body, as well as momentarily take control of Obito Uchiha in order to send the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball attack off course, and save her comrades' lives. Ino has also displayed skill with one of her clan's advanced techniques known as the Mind Clone Switch Technique, which allows her to clone her consciousness and transfer it into multiple targets at once.

Ino is also adept at communicating telepathically. Her skills in this were such that she was able to broadcast a message to the entire Allied Shinobi Forces in a short period of time. She can use this technique to act as a medium for a person to communicate with other people telepathically by coming into physical contact with them. Ino can also convey images to others, such as memories and intense feelings. Even while strained from the effects, instead of having to send other's thoughts first into her mind to transfer to another, she was able to raise her transmission level to transfer people's thoughts directly between each other.

Ino can also combine her telepathy with her sensory ability to pass on what she senses to an ally so that they can react accordingly. This technique makes up part of Formation E for her generation of Ino-Shika-Chō. Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, her telepathy's range has improved to the point that she can receive and broadcast messages around the Earth in a short period of time, as seen after the defeat of Toneri Ōtsutsuki, she announced to the entire population of the shinobi nations that they were safe due to the efforts of the Hanabi Rescue Team.

Medical Ninjutsu
Since Part I, while not as refined as Sakura, Ino showed noticeable skills in controlling her chakra, able to create a chakra rope to bind targets. Later, she learned medical ninjutsu over the time-skip. The anime shows that Ino trained in medical ninjutsu alongside Sakura under Tsunade's supervision. While her abilities in this field have not been explored in depth, Ino has proven to be skilled enough to be able to diagnose the severity of an attack with just a glance or during healing. From the time she spent training from Tsunade, she used the method of chakra control and medical ninjutsu to perform the secret ninjutsu of the Yamanaka clan. In the anime, with her chakra control, she was able to assist Sakura, Hinata, and Shizune in sealing the Three-Tails with the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier. The anime also shows her control improved enough to transfer her chakra into multiple people at once.

Nature Transformation
Ino has shown some skill with Earth Release nature transformation. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after being taught the hand-seals by Kitsuchi, Ino and the rest of the Allied Shinobi created several earth walls, in an attempt to slow down the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball. Ino also has proficiency in Water, Yin and Yang Release.

Taijutsu
Ino has also shown some skills in taijutsu, being able to match Sakura during their Chūnin Exams preliminary match. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, her taijutsu skills had improved greatly, enough to hold her own against her Asuma, a close-range expert, after taking over Chōji's body. She could even take control of two separate targets and coordinate them skilfully enough to pressure her teacher. Ino had also shown good reflexes coupled with speed and strength, able to tackle Chōji out of the way of Asuma's extremely fast Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique.

Intelligence
Ino has shown to possess a great level of intelligence and perception, graduating at the top of her class while in the Academy alongside Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame. During her fight with Sakura in the Chūnin Exams, she proved her cleverness when turning the battle in her favour by simply cutting her hair to bind her enemy, overcoming her technique's inherit weakness by mimicking the Shadow Imitation Technique with her hair at once. At the same time, Ino proved deceptive and a capable actor by faking becoming enraged to set up the trap. Also, Ino is also very attentive, able to tell a person's occupation by glancing at the condition of their hands. She has great deal of knowledge of flowers ranging from practical uses to individual symbolic meanings. Since she worked at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, she could tell by the hands of customers what their occupation was. During Pain's invasion, she was able to conclude that Pain's real body must be around the village for his technique to work, since it was similar to her clan's.

Chūnin Exams
Though making a few brief appearances earlier in the anime, like getting mad at Naruto alongside Shikamaru for having all of them perform a technique, and racing Sakura and their rivalry towards Sasuke, Ino made her début during the Chūnin Exams. When the Rookie 9 gathered up in a room for their first exam, she threw herself on Sasuke, saying that she had missed him, much to Sakura's dismay. During the first phase of the exam, she used her Mind Body Switch Technique to enter Sakura's mind and memorise all her test answers, then sent her mind into Chōji and Shikamaru's minds to give them the answers.

In the Forest of Death, her team was considered the weakest one. They hid behind bushes so as to not get involved in any conflicts. When she and her team found Sakura left to defend herself from Team Dosu alone, she began to to recall the memories of her childhood with Sakura when she helped Sakura from being bullied, forming a friendship and becoming rivals for Sasuke's affection. Shikamaru asked her if they should help Sakura, to which finally she decided to. She and her team stepped in for Sakura and an unconscious Rock Lee to fight off the Otogakure-genin. She used her Mind Body Switch Technique on Kin Tsuchi, thinking to use her body as bait to get her team-mates to give up. However, it utterly failed as they were willing to kill their own team-mate forcing Ino to release herself from Kin's body. When Sasuke awoke, he forced the Oto-genin to retreat. After fixing Sakura's hair, she is seen carrying a wounded Lee, until Tenten jumped down and took him out of Ino's care. Later, her team was one of the few genin teams to make it to the tower, participating in the preliminary exams.

Ino's first match in the preliminary exams was against Sakura. The two did not battle seriously at first since Ino still cared about Sakura, until Sakura, unwilling to have Ino pity her, denounced her even though she didn't want to hurt Sakura. Ino and Sakura battled seriously afterwards, and used up most of their energy in the process. Ino then attempted to enter Sakura's mind after cutting her hair and sending chakra into it to immobilise her. She succeeded and was about to make Sakura raise her hand to forfeit, but was expelled by Inner Sakura. Low on chakra, Ino and Sakura charged at each other for one last attack, and knocked each other out, resulting in a tie with both of them being eliminated. During Tenten's and Temari's match, they regained consciousness, and rekindled their friendship, but still maintained their rivalry over Sasuke.

Ino accompanied Sakura to visit Sasuke in the month between the preliminaries and the finals as they both picked out flowers for him, but found that he was gone. They went to visit Lee as well, only to find him outside, doing push ups when he was supposed to be in bed. She went to the finals with Sakura, and noted that Sakura's team was extraordinary, after seeing Naruto defeat Neji. When there was no sign of Sasuke, Sakura started getting depressed. Ino tried her best to keep Sakura in high spirits, and to cheer on for Naruto. She also cheered on Shikamaru when he fought Temari, but was visibly shocked when he chose to give up and quit the match and let Temari win. When the invasion started, she was rendered unconscious by Kabuto's genjutsu.

Konoha Crush
Ino can be seen at the Third Hokage's funeral alongside the other villagers, mourning his death.

Mizuki Tracking Mission
In the anime, when Mizuki escaped from jail, Ino along with her team-mates saved Naruto from the Legendary Stupid Brothers and took over the battle so Naruto could aid Iruka. Ino tried to possess one of them and was knocked out. She then used her new technique, gaining the advantage. Then Ino and her team-mates used their new formation. Soon they realised they couldn't defeat the brothers, but they were able to resist until Tsunade showed up and defeated the escapees easily.

Academy Student Lead Mission
In the anime, the Academy students were divided into teams of three and were assigned to a genin who would lead them on a mission against the other teams. Ino was assigned to lead a team of three academy students: Sō, Kiri, and Shimo. Her time with them was not covered much except that she was doing better than Naruto.

Kaima Capture Mission
In the anime, she accompanied Naruto, Shino and Anko to the Land of the Sea, and helped defeat Misumi Tsurugi, by possessing him and tying his arms to pillars, leaving him trapped in a collapsing room. Ino then used Mind Body Disturbance Technique on Yoroi as he attempted to attack Shino, allowing Shino to punch Yoroi away. When Yoroi attempted to attack Ino, Shino sent his bugs after him, thus defeating him.

Matchmaking Proxy Mission
In the anime, she appeared in a mission with Naruto, in which she tried to replace Princess Fuku who had grown overweight in an attempt to woo her suitor Chikara, the daimyō of the Land of Noodles. Ino was barely able to stand the man, but the mission succeeded after Naruto accidentally exposed the real princess. Ino briefly revealed an due to her anger, similar to Sakura's "Inner Sakura", during this episode.

Konoha Plans Recapture Mission
In the anime, Ino and Sakura were sent to examine a corpse that was believed to be that of Gennō. Ino hesitated, but eventually entered the room, and concluded, from the condition of the hands, that the corpse was not a ninja or a carpenter, and that Gennō was still alive. After the group found Gennō, she attempted to possess him when he tried to make his escape on a summoned bird; while he let go of the bird, Ino was unable to maintain the technique, as she noted that he had been suffering terrible pain the entire time.

Sunagakure Support Mission
In the anime, when the Four Celestial Symbols Men kidnapped Gaara's student and Sunagakure asked Konoha for aid, Ino accompanied Shikamaru to help Temari in her battle. Ino's attempt at immobilising their opponent, Kujaku, failed, leaving her at risk. Kujaku later was defeated by Shikamaru and Temari's combined efforts. Feeling guilty that she did not contribute much to the mission, she asked Sakura to ask Tsunade to add her as a second apprentice. Sakura agreed, but added that Ino would have to acknowledge Sakura as a senior apprentice, resulting in Ino refusing (which led to yet another fight).

Interlude
After Naruto left the village to train, Inoichi began training his daughter more extensively in the Yamanaka clan techniques to better continue its traditions. Growing discouraged at the prospect of this training taking years, Ino decided to skip her training, using Chōji's discharge from the hospital as an excuse. To her surprise, Ino learned that all her friends were spending much of their free-time training. Finally, Ino decided to ask Tsunde to train her. Tsunade agreed to take Ino on as a student under the condition that she first pass a resuscitating test within three months. Despite numerous failings, she was making steady progress, due in part to Ino's continued rivalry with Sakura, until finally succeeding. Now officially a student of Tsunade's like Sakura, Ino asked Sakura what made her take this path. Sakura simply said she wanted to be an equal team-mate on missions to her allies. Amazed at everyone else's determination to improve, Ino decided to stop worrying about the time it took to grow and began training more arduously.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
In the anime, about two years later during Naruto's absence after he left the village with Jiraiya for training, Konoha decided to host an early Chūnin Exams alongside Sunagakure. As Team Asuma was one team-mate short since Shikamaru was already a chūnin and therefore ineligible, Ino asked Sakura to be their third member. Once entering the exams, Ino and her team were randomly split into different rooms to take the written test. Shikamaru, as proctor, explained that everyone only needs to answer one question on the test, but their team's combined score must equal exactly 100 points to pass. Ino telepathically contacted her team-mates to discuss which question each should answer. After time is up, Shikamaru reveals a bonus question that must be answered unanimously. Each team was asks what member of their respective team would be chosen to be a decoy and the one picked will be disqualified. Ino contacts her team again as they see through the ploy. Ino's team ultimately passed the first exam. However, as there were too many participants left, a preliminary round was held so only the first 30 teams to arrive in Sunagakure would qualify for the second exam.

Ultimately, Ino's team were among the first 30 teams to make to qualify. The following day, the second exam began. Each teams was given either a Heaven or Earth scroll. They were all required to within three days to obtain a matching set and bring them to the main building in the centre of Demon Desert. On the third day of the exam, Team Asuma lost their provisions in a previous fight and went for an oasis to replenish themselves. After Ino and Sakura got into another heated argument, their bickering quickly ended by the attack of another giant scorpion. Sakura surprised everyone by defeating the creature with a single punch. Afterwards, Ino healed Sakura's hand from the attack. As they used the scorpion's meat as new provisions and commented on each other's growth, they reasserted their desire to pass the exams.

Not feeling the provisions were enough, the team continued their way to the oasis. Before arriving, they were cut off by a Suna-team. Ino attacked first, letting the enemies counter and knocked out. While the enemies then engage Sakura and Chōji, Ino, who feigned being unconscious, begins sensing the enemies' movement and telepathically informs her allies. Soon seeing through Ino's ploy, they erect a barrier to disrupt her sensory skill. Remembering what her allies and teachers taught her, Ino improvises by linking minds with her allies, allowing them to counter-attack and defeat the Suna-nin. While the Suna-nin admit defeat and offer their scroll, Sakura notes that it is unneeded as they already have two matching scrolls.

Later, while Sakura collapsed from continuing her chakra training, the team was attacked by another Suna team. The leader of the team, Saya attacked with a small doll as her puppet. After snatching some of Ino's hair, she possessed Ino's mind and forced her to attack Sakura. As Saya's team-mates began to be overwhelmed by Chōji, Saya canceled her technique on Ino and turned it on Chōji. Ino explained that Saya's technique is similar to the Yamanaka clan's own mind techniques, much to her annoyance. Ino then used her technique to enter Chōji's mind and attempt to free him. Ultimately, Ino succeeds and expels Saya from Chōji's mind, much to Saya's horror. After which, Chōji regained control of himself and attacked the enemies, forcing them to retreat.

Later, with Ino and Chōji still exhausted from the last skirmish, Saya's team soon returned, keeping Ino and her team pinned down in a sandstorm while attacking them with sand puppets. The Konoha-nin easily dealt with the sand puppets, until one of them was revealed to be Mamushi in disguise and poisoned Ino and Chōji. Afterwards, building up enough chakra, Sakura propels herself out of the sandstorm and defeat the enemies with a single strike. Later, Team Asuma was caught in a massive sandstorm. Ultimately, the team was rescued by the Suna-nin proctors and brought to a building to wait out the storm before resuming the exams.

After the storm passed and the second exam was concluded, it was learned that the Chūnin Exams were ended early due to controversy happening in the second exam. Instead, it was decided by Gaara that a report on each participant would be sent to their respective village leader for them to decide if they would be promoted. Upon returning to the village, Ino and her team-mates were all promoted to chūnin status.

Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission
Ino made her first reappearance shortly after Team Kakashi and Team Guy returned from the successful saving of Gaara, having come to retrieve Chōji for their mission with Asuma. Before that, Shikamaru, Chōji, and Naruto were fighting against the new face Sai. Chōji told Ino that they were fighting against a weirdo, to which she thought weirdo was being referred to Naruto. She called out his name, happy to see Naruto since she hasn't seen him for a very long time. She appeared again after Naruto and his team returned from their failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Kakashi was in the hospital, and Team Asuma went for a visit. Upon meeting Sai, she quickly became interested in him, also noting that he resembled Sasuke to Sakura. Sakura agreed, but told her that his personality is different, and not in a good way.

When they all went out to dinner, Ino attempted to get Sai's attention with some subtle flirting. When Sai tried to befriend Ino and Chōji, having earlier come to the conclusion that women (specifically Sakura), didn't like to hear how they really looked, Sai tried the opposite approach by calling Ino "gorgeous", of which is the opposite of what he wanted to say. This resulted in Ino blushing, and enraging Sakura, who Sai had previously called "ugly".

Twelve Guardian Ninja
In the anime, when Furido's 4-Man Team invaded Konoha, Fudō resurrected some ninja. When she, Chōji, Kiba and Rock Lee joined Genma, he told her to back-up for the medics. She carries on her duties, healing the injured ninja when Shikamaru soon came to ask her the situation. Afterwards, she and him joined the others to help defeat the zombies. Arriving on the battlefield, Ino recognises the tattoo the zombie-nin bare, explaining that these shinobi were from the Kohaku Clan — a clan which was massacred near the Land of Fire's border and one of many villages that have been attacked as of late.

Later, after defeat the zombies, she and the others joined Naruto, Sakura and Yamato who are fighting Sora in his jinchūriki form. After Chōji hands were burned from touching Sora, she used her Mind Body Switch Technique on him but failed to possess him because of the Nine Tail chakra and said that there's no sign of an human heart left inside of Sora. When Sora attack the group, Yamato used his wood technique to protect them. After he loses the Nine-Tails' chakra, Ino and the others comforted him, and bid him farewell.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission
When Tsunade decided to make a move against Akatsuki, Ino was assigned, along with Chōji, to a Nijū Shōtai team, led by Raidō Namiashi and Aoba Yamashiro. Ino and Chōji arrived as back-up for Shikamaru and Asuma in their fight with Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu. When the duo retreated, Ino tried to tend to Asuma's injuries, but the damage to his body was beyond repair. The team couldn't do anything but listen to their sensei's final words. Before dying, Asuma said that Ino is strong-willed and a reliable child, so she should take care of Chōji and Shikamaru since the pair are clumsy. Asuma also told Ino not to lose to Sakura in ninjutsu or romance. Ino then reminisces about her memories with Asuma especially her first days with him as a student, and when she noticed that the bouquet of flowers that Asuma bought were for Kurenai, much to his surprise. After the death of her sensei, Ino screamed with grief and cried on his chest. She was later seen at Asuma's funeral, mourning Team 10's loss alongside Chōji, asking him why Shikamaru hasn't showed up to the funeral.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji all agreed to avenge Asuma. Under the guidance of Kakashi, Team 10 later set out to face Kakuzu and Hidan. By using her Mind Body Switch Technique on a hawk, Ino was able to quickly find the Akatsuki duo so Shikamaru's plan could begin, but doing this nearly got her killed after Kakuzu attacked the hawk forcing her to return, otherwise she would have been stabbed and killed. During Team 10's fight with Hidan and Kakuzu, Ino was unable to provide much support for her teammates, due to her Mind Body Switch Technique being too much of a risk to use in battle, as stated by Shikamaru. In the anime, she saved Chōji from a fatal blow by Kakuzu before getting grabbed by the neck and was almost choked to death along with Chōji, but they were saved by Kakashi and Shikamaru.

After Naruto arrived along with Sakura, Sai, and Yamato, Ino expressed joy and relief that her friends had come. While Sakura and Sai set out to help Shikamaru, Naruto, with the help of Yamato, defeated Kakuzu with the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. She then healed Naruto and commended him for his constantly growing skill. In the anime, after the teams returned back to the village, Ino visited Hinata's and Neji's Home and explained to them what happened, specifically about Naruto's new technique.

Three-Tails' Appearance
In the anime, Ino is placed on Team Three to seal away the Three-Tails. To join her was Sakura, Hinata Hyūga, and Shizune who was the leader. This sealing process took proficient chakra control and since Ino trained as a medical-nin, explains why she was put on the team. When her team practised the sealing technique, she had difficulty withstanding it. But after a short speech from Sakura she stood back up, more determined than ever to complete the task.

When her team located the Three-Tails, they started the actual sealing. As the sealing begin to work on the tailed beast, Guren closed in to disrupt the sealing. Ino begin to get nervous and started losing concentration. Shizune instructed her to relax and focus. Soon enough Rock Lee and Tenten arrived to protect her team from Guren and Rinji. Ino however still remained unfocused and broke hold from the seal and thus disrupted it. When the beast awakened, he emerged from the water bringing forth a tidal wave and breaking the whole seal.

Later, Ino is found unconscious on Lee's back who carried her from the water and lays her on the beach. Waking up she felt frustrated of how useless she was. She was also seen helping Sakura heal an ill Yūkimaru. Not long after, they tried sealing the beast again, but were unable to complete it. The task is then left to the Anbu members.

Pain's Assault
When Pain began his invasion, Ino rushed to her father's location to inform him and all those present of the attack. Having learned something about Pain's identity, Inoichi realised that Pain was animating dead bodies in a manner similar to his own clan's mental manipulation techniques. Ino deduce that the true Pain is in a remote location somewhere relatively close by. Then, they tried to escape, to avoid capture. Despite their attempt, Pain's Human Path arrived and captured Shizune, finding out what she knew, before killing her. Ino had mourned for a while for her fellow sensei.

After Pain destroyed the village, Ino tried to revive Shizune, but could do nothing to help her, and regrouped with her father, Shikamaru,Shikaku and Shiho. She blames herself for Shizune's death but Shikamaru says that they should focus on the location of the real Pain. After the death of Nagato, she was shocked to see that Shizune was brought back to life. She was then present at Naruto's return, and celebrated with the villagers for his victory. In the anime, she even says that she could almost fall for Naruto, surprising Chōji and Shikamaru.

Five Kage Summit
When news of Sasuke's affiliation with Akatsuki reaches Konoha, the Konoha 11 gather to discuss what should be done about the affair. The others suggest that they should personally eliminate Sasuke to prevent him from implicating Konoha in a war with the other major villages. Upset by this, Ino cries and was being comforted by Chōji and Tenten. Kiba demanded her stop crying by shouting at her, but she was defended by Tenten. Ino was later seen with the rest of the Konoha 11, hearing Naruto's decision about Sasuke when he returns to the village. He later promises to tell them everything when the time was right.

Power
In the anime, Ino arrived as back up for Team Kakashi, and took care of an injured Sakura. With assistance from her team-mates, she later battled a snake clone of Hidan made by Kabuto Yakushi. Though Hidan began to get the upper hand he died out before any further action could take place. Later the Konoha-nin said their goodbyes and departed.

Paradise Life on a Boat
In the anime, Ino along with Sakura and Chōji were assigned a mission to retrieve medical herbs from Benisu Island. While there, they bump into Naruto, who stopped by the island from his journey to the Land of Lightning with Yamato, Might Guy and Aoba Yamashiro escorting him. Naruto decides to help them out with finding the herbs. A little into the search, she makes fun of Naruto's lack of knowledge of flowers. They are soon confronted by the three ninja from the island who are also after the same herbs they are. The two groups compete over who gets it with the Benisu ninja staying ahead of them. After saving the ninja from a giant creature, they give the Konoha-nin some of the herbs they retrieved.

Road to Sakura
While on a stroll during her day off, Ino pondered how to spend the day before finding Sakura falling from the sky after a flash of bright light. Helping her out of a tree and taking her to Tsunade for medical attention, Ino is shocked to find out Sakura has amnesia as she tries to keep Tsunade and Shizune from killing her blank friend for pointing out their bust sizes. In her attempt to help jog Sakura's memory, she and the rest of the Konoha 11 present themselves in the way she remembers them: By acting the complete opposite of themselves. After the attempt failed, Ino helps Sakura look for her necklace until they encounter the latter's parents as they have found the item in question. After Sakura strangely cries as she embraces her parents before they leave, Ino learns that the Sakura she has been with all day came from an alternate reality. When the alternate Sakura fades away, Ino is left severely confused as she wondered where her real best friend is.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
When the Fourth Shinobi World War begins, Ino is placed in the Fifth Division. Ino and other members of her division are later sent to provide support for the First Division. Ino meets up with Shikamaru and Chōji - sent as backup from their own division - and they team up to help Darui fight Kinkaku. Shikamaru restrains Kinkaku with his shadow. Kinkaku almost breaks free but Ino is able to use the Mind Body Switch Technique to transfer her consciousness into his body, saving Shikamaru. In order to capture Kinkaku with the Kohaku no Jōhei, Darui says Kinkaku's name and Ino forces him to respond. As Kinkaku is sucked into the Kohaku no Jōhei, Ino returns to her body. Her watching father compliments her on this improved timing.

The trio next prepares to engage the reincarnated Kakuzu. Shikaku instructs them to leave Kakuzu to others and instead focus on Asuma, who had also been reincarnated. Chōji is reluctant to fight their late teacher, so Ino reminds him of Asuma's final words to all of them. They confront Asuma and he comments on how much they have grown before they start fighting. Despite Ino's attempts to encourage him, Chōji still has difficulty fighting Asuma. As Asuma is about to attack Chōji, Ino pushes him out of the way. She then uses the Mind Body Switch Technique on Chōji and spars with Asuma, all the while reminding Chōji of their duty. Chōji eventually pulls himself together and Ino returns to her body. As Chōji goes on the offensive, Ino uses her Mind Clone Switch Technique on two White Zetsu to use against Asuma. Asuma is defeated, and before being sealed he congratulates them on their perfect team-work.

The battle continues into the night and Ino assists Chōji in defeating the rest of the reincarnated ninja. When the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path attacks she takes cover with her team. After that attack subsides, Ino is seen planning with the rest of her team and Tenten. The next morning, Ino and the rest of the shinobi present are seen standing in circles. This was a countermeasure against the White Zetsu Army clones that had invaded their ranks until Naruto could come and differentiate them. Ino asks Shikamaru if they couldn't simply ask each other personal questions but he says no as there was a possibility that the enemy could guess the answers. In the anime, the silence it quickly halted by the reincarnated Sound Four, Orochimaru's personal guard. Shikamaru tells Ino and the others to stay behind as they still can't be certain of who to trust with the White Zetsu still looming. Shikamaru and Chōji then head off to confront their old enemies. Familiar with the Oto ninja's skills, Shikamaru and Chōji quickly defeat them. However, their victory is short-lived when Shikamaru, Chōji, and the Sound Four are engulfed in a strange technique. Ino then found her team-mates unconscious and with no chakra flow. Knowing that they wouldn't last long like that, Ino began to transfer her chakra to them, despite the danger of doing it simultaneously between two other people. After contacting her father, Inoichi deduces the truth of the technique, that it removes the victims soul and transports it to another location. He then explains it can be dispelled like genjutsu, by pouring chakra into the actual technique. However, it has a seal that prevents even Inoichi, equipped with special enhancement tools, from being able to detect or communicate with them. Eventually, Naruto found the barrier and destroyed it, allowing Inoichi, telepathically, to dispel the technique and free the Konoha ninja. Upon Shikamaru and Chōji awakening, Ino tearfully hugged them in relief.

The battle continues on as when they spotted White Zetsu clones and fought them off. It suddenly starts to rain while it is sunny that's when Shikamaru spots a crying boy then huge amount wall of rain falls on Shikamaru that is preventing him from moving. Chōji uses his Multi-Size Technique to block it while Ino helped Shikamaru up. Shikamaru then uses his Shadow Neck Bind Technique to bind him and as he does the rain starts getting worse preventing them from moving and causing their techniques to weaken. As that happens the boy started calling their names as then Ino questions how does he know them as Chōji doesn't know him and neither does Shikamaru. The boy then came up to them and plucked their foreheads after that happened they realise that its Yota. Shikamaru questions is he reincarnated the boy started to cry the rain stopped then a big wave of it washed them away that made them know that he can't control his actions just like Asuma. Yota then started shooting rain bullets that's pushing the trio back and thinking do they have to fight him. Ino contacted her father and asked to link her to Sakura and found out that she was also fighting Yota along with Kiba and Akamaru. She also found out that Naruto was fighting him and was told that those were not him just White Zetsu clones so she helped Chōji and Shikamaru defeat him and it reverted to a clone.

She then calls out and waves at Naruto when he arrives. After being informed by her father at HQ that Naruto and B were fighting the "masked Madara", Ino and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As she runs, she thanks her father for relaying Naruto's feelings to everyone and promises that she'd make his foretelling of their victory a reality.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
Arriving just in the nick of time, Ino with Hinata's guidance was able to take control of Obito in time to veer the Ten-Tails' would-be fatal attack off course. Though she laments that he was able to break a perfect Mind Body Switch Technique in only a matter of seconds, Hiashi Hyūga told her she did a great job, having managed to shift the attack. She stood alongside the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces to face their opposition. With their attempt to immobilise the Ten-Tails ended in failure, Ino listened on, crying, as Shikaku imparted what would be his final battle strategy via her father as a Tailed Beast Ball was sent hurtling towards HQ. Ino listened to her father's last words to her, which stated that she had truly blossomed and her bonds with her friends reflect the meaning of the bush clover which she was raised to embody. After, Shikamaru reminded her that they were still in the midst of battle, and that they didn't have time to grieve. She later learns of Neji's death.

After Kurama had gathered enough chakra, Naruto sent shadow clones to Ino, and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces to distribute Kurama's chakra to them. Upon receiving the chakra, Ino is enveloped in it, and after the Akimichi clan stops the Ten-Tails' movements, she quickly used her Mind Body Switch Technique on Obito again and after taking control of his body, she was able to alter the course of an attack that was headed for Chōji. Later, when Shikamaru and the other Nara clan members captured the Ten-Tails with their Shadow Imitation Technique, Ino released her technique and returned to her body.

Later on, as the Ten-Tails once again prepared to obliterate the Alliance, Shikamaru requested that Ino use her telepathic skills to link him to Kitsuchi, to which she obliged, grateful that Shikamaru had finally devised a strategy. With his plan being to teach the entire army the seals to the simple Earth Release wall technique and then using it to block the Ten-Tails' attack, he then asked Ino if she was able to relay this telepathically to the other shinobi on the battlefield. She responded bluntly that it wasn't a question of was she able to do it, as she would do it no matter what. With some strain, Ino is able to contact all the shinobi and relay the seals necessary to the Alliance for the technique before performing it herself alongside her comrades. Though the situation still looks dire as their feeble earthen defences are destroyed by the Ten-Tails' massive Tailed Beast Ball, and even a transformed Killer B proves incapable of stopping the attack, the Alliance shinobi are shocked when the attack simply disappears, unbeknownst to them that the Fourth Hokage had arrived on the battlefield.

With Sasuke soon appearing on the scene too, Ino is shocked to see him, and rushes over to inquire as to why he is here, but is stopped by Shikamaru and Chōji who warns her that he's an enemy. Sasuke notes that she is still as loud as ever. Ino is then, along with the rest of her peers, completely bemused upon Sasuke's revelation that he will become Hokage. As Team 7 reunites, Ino smiles at Shikamaru, noting how nostalgic it feels, what with the Rookie Nine being together again, just like in the Chūnin Exams. She then charges at the Ten-Tails with her friends. With Teams 7 and 8 leading the assault, Ino looks on in disgust as Shino summons a giant parasitic insect to devour one of the Ten-Tails' clones. She then rallies her own team together, for them to perform Formation E. While Chōji uses his Multi-Size Technique, and Shikamaru uses the Shadow Clutch Technique on him, Ino uses her sensory abilities to lock onto all of the clones in the surrounding area, before using the Sensing Transmission technique on Shikamaru. With Ino acting as the mind, Shikamaru as the body and Chōji as the yo-yo, the trio perform the Human Bullet Yo-Yo technique, obliterating all of the surrounding clones. As Chōji prepares to double in size to strengthen his assault, Shikamaru states that the team has a lot more to show, with Ino then berating him for his sudden competitiveness with the other teams. She then urges Naruto and Sasuke on as she bears witness to their attack on the Ten-Tails. During this time, Ino questioned Shikamaru about whether or not something was troubling him, but he dismissed her.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
As the battle against Obito continues, Ino once more telepathically links Shikamaru to the rest of the Alliance in order to boost their morale. With the situation looking grim as the Alliance was trapped in a barrier with a Tailed Beast Ball-firing tree, Ino and the other shinobi soon found themselves shrouded in the previous Version 1 mantles again. She and the other subsequently found themselves on the outside of the barrier, escaping the near-fatal attack thanks to Naruto and Minato's action. When the God Tree, the Ten-Tails' true form, launches a ravaging attack against the Alliance, Ino manages to successfully avoid having her chakra drained from her. Shikamaru, however, is not so lucky, and Ino and Chōji support their failing comrade. During this time, Hashirama calls out for a member of the Yamanaka clan to telepathically connect him to the whole Alliance, to which Ino complied. Realising that the five Kage were also within range of her technique, she then listened on as Hashirama's clone conveyed what the original had heard about the Eye of the Moon Plan from Madara. With the technique still in effect, Ino was shocked when Naruto's feelings and memories began being conveyed to the entire Alliance via the telepathic link. As the young man remembered the loss he had experienced, Ino sympathised with the loss of Asuma.

As Naruto joined Sasuke in a senjutsu-enhanced clash against Obito, Naruto's chakra begins forming around Shikamaru once again. While Sakura is amazed that Naruto is splitting his focus between fighting and aiding them, Ino corrected her. Ino explains that through her telepathy, she can tell that Naruto was focused purely on his battle, but subconsciously still desired to save his allies. From this strong will, Naruto's chakra was reacting to those it is infused with. She then watched in concern as Shikamaru struggled back to consciousness, and relievedly thanked Sakura for her efforts once he returned to full strength as well as Naruto. When Tsunade, with Sakura's assistance, summons one tenth of Katsuyu's body to the battlefield, the Hokage orders Ino to relay this to alliance, an action she promptly carries out.

Obito manifested a gigantic Yin–Yang shield and Hagoromo's legendary holy weapon and in order for it to be destroyed, Naruto created nine Rasengan in Kurama's tail and contacted Ino and the rest of Konoha 11 plus Sai to join in on it. Once near Kurama's tails, Ino and the others are enveloped in even more chakra which resulted them with the Tailed Beast Mode much to their shock. Naruto tells them to break down through Obito's defences with the Rasengan so he and Sasuke could have a direct shot at attacking him. Ino and the others launched their attack and Naruto and Sasuke were able to deal a devastating blow to him. Once again instructed by Shikamaru, Ino and the rest of the Alliance lent their strength in wresting the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito.

With Madara's eventual full revival and Obito's apparent incapacitation, Ino and the rest of the Alliance is approached by Tobi who overwhelms them with a massive Wood Release. As the Alliance struggles against this new threat, Ino reacts with shock and concern upon sensing the drastic weakening of Naruto's chakra when the Nine-Tails was extracted from him. Despite all of the Alliance's efforts, Ino is still caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. In the genjutsu, Ino dreamed of Sasuke and Sai fighting over her while her still-alive father watched his daughter with pride as she enjoyed herself, asking the two not to fight over her.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Ultimately, she later woke up once the Infinite Tsukuyomi was dispelled by Sasuke and Naruto after they ended the war.

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky
Ino makes an appearance in this novel.

Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness
When Shikamaru is heading to the mission to investigate Gengo, he sees his childhood friends and team-mates, Ino and Chōji. He feels that they are so innocent that he doesn't have the heart to tell them about the mission. However, later when Temari noticed Shikamaru's weirdness and goes to negotiate with Konogakure, Ino, Chōji and Sakura go to save Shikamaru and other shinobi of Konogakure. Aside from worrying about her friend Shikamaru, Ino is more eager to save Sai, the one who is under Gengo's genjutsu and whom she has a crush on. Despite the danger for herself, Ino sank deeply into Sai's mind to salvage his consciousness. She feels that she want to know more about Sai when sinking down. Later, when Sai is successfully saved by her, he express his gratefulness to "Miss Beautiful".

The Last: Naruto the Movie
Ino makes an appearance in this film, set two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War. She was seen with her team commenting on Naruto's popularity since the war. She was later seen at Ichiraku's with Naruto, Sakura and Chōji. When the meteors begin falling on earth, Ino uses her telepathy to alert Kakashi, prompting the Sixth Hokage to order Rock Lee and the taijutsu group to break it. Later, Ino receives a message from Kumogakure and informs Kakashi what was happening at the Five Kage Summit. Following Toneri Ōtsutsuki's defeat, Ino announces to the earth and its people that they were safe due to the efforts of the Hanabi Rescue Team. She later attends Naruto and Hinata's wedding, taking a photo of herself along with Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten. In the group photo with everyone else, she was seen holding Sai's hand, hinting they were in a relationship at the time.

Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze
Ino appears as one of the main characters, as Sakura's close friend and assistant. She encourages Sakura that she is awesome and is admired by many younger shinobi in Konogakure, like what Ino has done in their childhood. Later, when the two are on the way to Sunagakure, Ino talks to Sakura about the romance between Shikamaru and Temari, Chōji and Karui from Kumogakure, and her crush on Sai.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding
Ino makes an appearance in this novel.

Epilogue
Years later, Ino eventually married Sai and together had a son named Inojin. She has begun training Inojin in the Yamanaka clan techniques and cooperation ninjutsu of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio to become part of its newest generation.

Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring
Ino comes back from a mission with Chōji as Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Chōchō and Sarada return to the village. She muses about Chōchō's shock towards her father's changed figure. Ino greets her friends and is pleasantly surprised to see Sasuke again after such a long time. However, when Ino talks to Sasuke, Sarada interrupts her, mistakenly believing the older woman to be attracted to her father, which amuses Sakura and confuses Ino.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie
Ino made a small cameo before Team 7 was being called up, she, Shikamaru, and Chōji were seen running through the streets.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Will of Fire
Ino was first seen when they celebrated for Naruto and Sai's recovery and ate barbecue. Ino was seen again when Hiruko appeared on the sky and said he was starting the Fourth Shinobi World War. Later, Ino was sent with the rest of Konoha 11 to retrieve back Naruto and Sakura. Ino's team caught up with Naruto and Sakura, but Sai came and took the two with him to catch up with Kakashi. They were left behind to take down Hiruko's henchmen, San. They used Ino–Shika–Chō combination and easily took down the enemy. Shikamaru had Ino tell San that they aren't here to fight but to bring back Naruto and the others, after Ino used Mind Body Switch Technique and told San, he refused and said that he understands but he can't just pass the information on, forcing Team 10 to fight him. He then summoned his two team-mates, Ichi and Ni, and used Chimera Technique, which made them turn into a beast, Team 10 was defeated quickly. The rest of Konoha 11 comes to back up Team 10 and while Tenten summoned out chains everyone grabs onto one and as Shikamaru was about to use a technique to bind the beast Ino urges Shikamaru to go on and that the rest of them can handle it. Ino is later seen at Hiruko's temple saving Sakura from a collapsing building while the other members of the Konoha 11 defeated the beast.

Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison
Ino appears along with the other members of the Konoha 11 to help save Naruto from prison and help defeat Satori.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Ino first appears with her friends battling several Zetsu clones disguised as deceased Akatsuki members. Later, in the alternate world, a different Ino is seen. Compared to the Ino that Naruto and Sakura know, she is more timid, calm, conservative in her appearance, and shy with boys. She also isn't bossy with her team, trying to end things peacefully with them rather than lashing out at them like she usually does.

Video Games
Ino's moves typically include the use of genjutsu, flower-based attacks, and acrobatic physical attacks similar to the Musoh-Battoh-Ryu style of fighting.

Live Spectacle Naruto
Anju Inami plays as Ino in this stage play adaption.

Trivia

 * The name "Ino" is short for "Inoshishi" which means, hence Sakura calling her . Her family name "Yamanaka" means . Wild boar are heavily associated with mountains in Japan, and are even called the , because of the amount of meat they produce.
 * 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 was ranked as the 29th most popular character in the seventh Naruto character popularity poll. She placed 14th in the fifth poll, 17th in the sixth poll and 23rd in the fourth poll. She finished 30th in the first poll.
 * According to the first Naruto fanbook, Ino had the best overall grades in the Academy. She had the highest grade in assertiveness and the second-highest grade in ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, cooperation, and class attitude, being beat by Sasuke in ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu. However, in chapter 3, Iruka states that Sasuke's grades were first among all 27 graduates.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * 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.
 * Ino's favourite phrase is.
 * According to the fourth databook, through flowers, she finds peace and love. Additionally, she loves the flower that she gave to Sakura which symbolise their friendship.

Quotes

 * (To Sakura, when she asks her why she gave her a ribbon) "Because… I thought it would be a waste for you to wither away as a bud. There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms. It might turn out to be… a flower more beautiful than a Cosmos."
 * (To Sakura) "Who're you calling "pig", you billboard brow?!"
 * (To Sakura) "You've bloomed into a beautiful flower."
 * (To Chōji about Asuma) "Listen, I know how you feel… the three of us, Team Ten… We went on a lot of missions with Asuma-sensei. Shikamaru and I don't want to fight him either. But it's because we know him so well that we can stop him with the least risk to the army. Don't you remember what those earrings are supposed to represent Chōji?"
 * (To Shikamaru) "It's not a matter of can or can't, I'm doing it!"