Inoichi Yamanaka

is a Jōnin from Konohagakure, and, alongside Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi, is a part of the first Ino-Shika-Chō trio, as well as the father of Ino Yamanaka. He runs his family's flower shop, and is a member of the Konoha Interrogation Unit. He was also made Captain of the Intelligence Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Appearance
Inoichi has a long pony tail, darker in shade than his daughter's. He also has blue eyes. In Part I, Inoichi is seen wearing the standard flak jacket over a black outfit, complete with handguards, forehead protector and a sleeveless red coat.

In Part II, however, he is seen in the standard outfit of the Konoha Interrogation Unit, complete with a long black overcoat.

Abilities
Inoichi, presumably the head of the Yamanaka clan, has shown himself to be a highly capable ninja. He is well-versed in all of his clan's secret techniques. During the Invasion of Konoha in Part I, Inoichi skilfully performs the Mind Body Disturbance Technique to make the invaders he encounters fight against their own allies without any self-control. Further proof of his skill was shown from his status as an interrogator during Pain's invasion. He was able to skilfully probe the mind of one Pain's Amegakure loyalist's, able to perceive a person's entire day of memories in under a minute, even though Pain had guarded it with mental blocks and traps. He has also shown the ability to communicate telepathically with his daughter, Ino.

He is also skilled at tracking targets through their chakra trail, as long as the target's chakra signature stays the same.

Chūnin Exam Arc
Inoichi first appeared in the anime alongside his former team-mates during the Chūnin Exam festivals. They were sitting in a bar where Inoichi was being teased for having a daughter instead of a son.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
He appeared again during the invasion of Konoha, protecting the village together with Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi.

Invasion of Pain Arc
When Ibiki Morino proved unable to learn anything about Pain from Yūdachi, he called on Inoichi for assistance. He probed Yūdachi's mind, rapidly going through his memories before arriving at the revelation that Pain had requested of Yūdachi: dead bodies. Before he could think further on this, Ino arrived to inform him of Pain's attack on Konoha, and the village was soon afterwards destroyed. Shizune was killed in the chaos by the Human Path and, using the information Shizune had learned before her death, Inoichi realized that Pain was animating dead bodies in a manner similar to his own clan's mental manipulation techniques, thereby meaning the true Pain was in a remote location somewhere relatively close by.

While looking for Pain's real body along with Shikaku and a member from the Hyūga clan, they bumped into Naruto. Inoichi asked if Naruto had defeated Pain, to which Naruto answered that it didn't matter and stated that he had found Pain's true body while in Sage Mode. He asked them not to follow him, as he wanted to talk to Pain alone. Inoichi stated angrily that talking didn't solve anything, but, after a brief argument, Shikaku told Inoichi to just let Naruto go, to which Inoichi hesitantly agreed. Inoichi along with the rest of the village, were overjoyed at Naruto's return to the village.

Konoha History Arc
Inoichi is seen interrogating Hanare after she was captured. After seeing a memory of Kakashi Hatake as a child in her thoughts, he sends her over to him and see if he remembers her.

Shinobi World War Arc
Inoichi is placed in charge of the Intelligence Division. When Aoba Yamashiro returns, Inoichi questions him about his time on the Island Turtle saying it seemed as though they had a rough time. His first act within the war was to set up a Boundary Barrier with Ao.

He later relays new information to the members of his division in the fields about the enemy traveling underground. After the alliance realizes that the First Division was soon going to be overwhelmed by the enemies' forces, Inoichi relays the new battle strategy as created by Shikaku. He then reports that Shizune had also split up her division equally in order to better attend to the wounded allies.

Later on, he uses a variant of his telepathy by placing his palm on Shikaku's forehead. This allows Shikaku himself to telepathically contact Ino, Shikamaru and Choji, telling them that they need to back up Darui's Division. Inoichi also makes an appearance when Shikaku speaks of the legend of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Trivia

 * 'Ino' comes from, meaning 'boar'. means 'one,' 'first' and is a common ending for boys' names, referring to the first-born son.  means 'among the mountains'. Wild boar are heavily associated with mountains in Japan and are even called the , because of the amount of meat they produce.