Yamanaka Ino

Yamanaka Ino (山中いの) is a member of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan. She and her fellow members of Team Asuma are the newest generation of Ino–Shika–Cho.

Background
From a young age, her father raised her to embody the meaning of the violet flower, 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 Haruno Sakura.

In the Ninja 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 Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru went searching for a set of kunai Choji 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.

Later Sakura also learned of Yota's existance and soon join Shikamaru in secretly being his the stranger's friend. Ino and the others then confronted Uzumaki Naruto. They accused him of making someone named Yota, who was a stranger to the village, disappear. Seeing them look at him with such distrust like the rest of the village, Naruto grew furious and ran away, so angry that people would like even an outsider over him. He then heard a young boy crying who strangely appeared to control the weather, making it rain with his tears.Naruto then realised this boy must be Yota. Immediately taking a liking to Naruto, the young boy asked him to teach him how to whistle like he saw Naruto do earlier. As Naruto began teaching him, the two soon became close friends.

One day while playing, Yota became very sad from a misunderstanding with Naruto and caused it to rain, which alerted the ANBU. As they took Yota captive, Naruto and the others tried to stop the ANBU, but to no success. Determined to save Naruto's first ever friend, Ino and the others staged a plan with Naruto acting as a diversion. Despite finding Yota, the ANBU easily foiled their plan. Seeing how much Naruto and the others cared for him, Yota summoned bolts of lightning to knock the ANBU out. Greatly weakened by the act, Yota was carried out of the village, determined to bring him to freedom. Upon reaching a river, unable to walk over it yet, they chose to swim. Their attempts proved futile and nearly drowned, only to be saved by Yota. Having overtaxed himself, Yota felt his life fading. Happy to have had friends, Yota didn't want them to suffer with this sad memory and erased all knowledge of him from their minds.

Some time later, she would defend 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 Uchiha 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.

Personality
Ino is often thinking about boys and takes a great deal of pride in her appearance, which was seen even during her younger days in kunoichi training. 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 can also be very confident, kind, and outspoken, not afraid to speak her mind, and sometimes suggests that Choji should lose weight. She is attracted to Sasuke and she cried when Uchiha Sasuke was declared an international criminal, showing that she still cares for him despite his descent into darkness. It is confirmed that she loves him during the Fourth Shinobi War, where she pictures Sasuke as the "love" that the violet flower symbolises. She also seems to be attracted to Sai because he looks just like Sasuke. In fact, in the Infinite Tsukuyomi Ino dreamed that both Sai and Sasuke were fighting over her. Ino is described as relatively cheerful and can be bossy to people, especially to her team-mates if they get in her way or their behavior annoys her.

Ino tends to take charge of her team-mates due to their lazy and nonchalant natures. She however clearly cares for them, as shown by her relief when Choji 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 Choji and Shikamaru, and ensure that they didn't get into trouble.

By the time of the Fourth Shinobi War, Ino has demonstrated more bravery and confidence so much so that Ino was unfazed when told by Shikamaru how powerful the Gold and Silver Brothers were and even told her team-mates to man-up when they 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 Inoichi died in the Fourth Shinobi War, he believed that she had truly blossomed into the violet of the Yamanaka family, and is proud of her for the bonds she has with her friends.

Ino often thinks about boys. She is attracted to Sasuke and she cried when he was declared an international criminal, showing that she still cares for him despite his descent into darkness. It is confirmed that she loves him during the Fourth Shinobi War, where she pictures he as the "love" that the bush clover symbolizes. When he returns, Ino runs towards him, only to be stopped by her teammates Shikamaru and Choji. She is also attracted to Sai, mainly because he looks very similar 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 and have son 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–Cho.

Appearance
Ino is a fair-skinned girl of average height with green eyes (blue in the anime). Her most memorable trait in her appearance is her long, 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 after, she wore a bun. In later Part I appearances, Ino's hair had grown to shoulder-length. By Part II, it grows to hip-length and Ino also sports a red clip in the left side of her hair.

In terms of attire, Ino is more often seen wearing a pair of small silver hoop-earrings and purple, fairly revealing clothing. 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 Chunin Exams finals, Ino sported an orange t-shirt that had the stylised kanji for the word "boar" (猪) inside a light green circle on the upper-left side of the chest, brown shorts, and cream-colored elbow guards. During her childhood, Ino was seen wearing a long sleeve orange shirt that had boar written on it, black pant and brown sandals. She also wore a pink long sleeve shirt with the collar and tip of shirt being the color red, a long blue blouse and blue sandals. In a flashback of Naruto and Hinata's childhood, when Iruka asked her and her classmates to write down who would be the last person that they would like to spend their last day with if the earth was destroy, or if the moon was falling towards earth, Ino was seen wearing her part I outfit.

In Part II, Ino has gone through knownable changes. 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 tanto 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 Chunin Exams as a long-standing tradition.

The purple colouring of her outfit seems to be a reference to the embodiment of the violet flower that Inoichi wanted her to be. During the Fourth Shinobi War, she dons the standard uniform of the Alliance and a Konohagakure flak jacket.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi War, Ino's overall attire and appearance became more pronounced. 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 is lengthened to reach her ankles, underneath mesh leggings along with high-heeled sandals.

Inner Ino
Ino briefly revealed an "Inner Ino" (内なるいの) due to her anger, similar to Sakura's "Inner Sakura", during the Chubby Paradise episode. Inner Ino looks exactly like Ino; the only difference is that Inner Ino has the word Inner Ino written on forehead.

Abilities
In Part I, Ino was noted to be an exceptional kunoichi by Asuma. During her fight with Sakura in the Chūnin Exams, she was able to turn the battle in her favour through the simple act of cutting her hair, overcoming her technique's inherit weakness and mimicking the Shadow Imitation Technique at once. For this reason, Sakura notes that Ino probably would have beaten her if Naruto had not interfered.

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 Chunin 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 War, 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.

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 War, her 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 Choji to block a point-blank range attack from Asuma, and then fight skilfully inside Choji's body, as well as momentarily take control of Uchiha Obito 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 advance technique 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. Through this method, Ino can convey images such as others memories and their strong feelings. She 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-Cho.

Medical Ninjutsu
Ino learned medical ninjutsu during the time skip between Parts I and II. 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. 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 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.

Taijutsu
She has also shown somewhat considerable skills in taijutsu. During the Chunin Exams, these skills were on par with Sakura's causing their battle to drag on. During the Fourth Shinobi War, her taijutsu skills had improved greatly, to such an extent that when she took over Choji's body she was able to hold her own against her sensei, a close-range expert, when they clashed. She could even control the mind of two separate targets and still coordinate the two targets skilfully enough to force Asuma on the defensive. She was also shown to have good reflexes coupled with speed and strength, as she was able to tackle Choji out of the way of Asuma's Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique, which is straight forward and fast.

Intelligence
Ino has shown to possess a great level of intelligence and perception, graduating the top of her class while in the Ninja Academy alongside Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino. This was displayed in the Chunin Exams and cleverly used her hair to make a chakra rope to bind Sakura. In fact in the anime, she was able to tell a person's occupation by glancing at the condition of their hands, a skill proven useful when Ino went to identify Genno's body and noticed immediately that the corpse wasn't a carpenter or a ninja. She has great deal of knowledge with flowers along with their meaning. Also, 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.

Introduction arc
Shw was first seen in line next to Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto when they have to review the Transformation Technique. She told Naruto that it's his fault, and Naruto says that he doesn't care. She finds out later that she is teamed up with Shikamaru, and Choji, which may her angry. Ino was then seen with her teammates along with the rest of the Rookie Nine, waiting for her sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. While leaving the Ninja Academy with Asuma and her teammates, she then told Sasuke that she'll see him later after her first mission.

Chunin Exam arc
Though making a few brief appearances earlier in the anime, Ino made her début during the Chunin Exams. She used her Mind Body Switch Technique to enter Sakura's mind and memorize all her test answers, then sent her mind into Choji and Shikamaru's minds to give them the answers. In the Forest of Death, Ino had many flashbacks of her childhood when they saw Sakura was in danger, she and her team helped Sakura and Rock Lee fight off the Otogakure genin, until Sasuke forced the Oto genin to retreat.

Ino's first match in the Chunin 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, 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 both of them being eliminated. When they regained consciousness, they started becoming friends again, but still maintained their rivalry over Sasuke.

Ino accompanied Sakura to visit Sasuke in the month between the preliminaries and the finals, but found that he was gone. She went to the finals with Sakura, and noted that Sakura's team was extraordinary, after seeing Uzumaki Naruto defeat Hyuga Neji. She also cheered on Shikamaru when he fought Temari, but was visibly shocked when he chose to give up and quit the match. When the invasion started, she was rendered unconscious by Kabuto's genjutsu.

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

Search for Tsunade arc
Ino was seen in a vision by Shikamaru when he asked his father about Women. Ino was also seen their the celebration of Tsunade becoming the fifth Hokage.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Ino was seen when she informed Sakura that Naruto,and the other were alive from their fail mission to bring Sasuke back. She told Sakura that she was going to visit Choji, and was happy that Tsunade healed the unconscious Choji.

Pre-Shippuuden Filler arc
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 realized they couldn't defeat the brothers, but they were able to resist until Tsunade showed up and defeated the escapees easily. After the battle, Iruka rewards everyone by taking them to Ramen Ichiraku.

In episode 158, Ninja 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.

She later 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. The mission was successful,and everyone returned home.

She later 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 daimyo 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 "Inner Ino" (内なるいの) due to her anger, similar to Sakura's "Inner Sakura", during this episode.

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. It turns out that Konoha was not in any real danger at all.

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. The mission was successful,and she returned to Konoha with the other Konoha 11 Members. 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 she would be Ino's senior apprentice, resulting in Ino refusing (which led to yet another fight).

During this time, her father began training her 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 Choji's discharge from the hospital as an excuse. While going to meet up with her team to celebrate Choji's recovery, she passed by Sakura who turned down the party offer to train more. While eating with her team, Ino was surprised that Shikamaru also turned down the party to train and likewise, Choji wanted to resume training after eating. Soon after Naruto left to train with Jiriaya, Ino finally decided to ask Tsunade to train her. Tsunade offered to take Ino on as a student under the condition that she first pass a test of resuscitating an octopus 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.

Two years after Naruto left the village with Jiraiya for training, Konoha was decided to host an early Chunin Exams alongside Sunagakure. Later, as Team Asuma began discussing their joining the exams, it became noted that with Shikamaru already a chunin and therefore ineligible to join, it left the rest of the team short. Ino came up with the idea of having Sakura fill in for the exams. When approaching Sakura about it, she declined the offer as she felt she would be a burden, to which Ino insisted would not be the case. Despite her initial failing, Ino was still determined to have Sakura join Team Asuma for the exams.

Ultimately, Sakura agreed to join the team. However, once entering the exams, Ino and her team were randomly split up and sent to different rooms to take the written test. On a monitor, Shikamaru, as proctor, explained that everyone only needs to answer one question on the test, but their combined score with their team-mates will determine if they pass or fail the exam as they need exactly 100 points to pass. Deciding to put her training to the test, Ino telepathically contacted her team-mates to discuss which question each should answer.

After time is up, Shikamaru reveals a bonus question that asked the teams what member of their team would they sacrifice as a decoy and the answer had to be unanimous. Unfortunately, the person picked will be disqualified. Ino telepathically communicates to Sakura, who caught on to the ploy and told her not to answer, to which she sends the message on to Choji. Ultimately, when the first exam concludes, she and her team are allowed to participate for the second round since a full team would be needed for the upcoming round. However, because the numerous amount of participants, a preliminary round had to be placed which involved a race to Sunagakure where the official second round will be, but only the first 30 participants will qualify.

Ultimately, Ino and her team made it to Sunagakure and qualified for the second round. The following night, as all the participants were ready to eat a largely-prepared dinner, everyone grew nervous about the overly-sweaty Burami ruining the food. To which, the genin all quickly tried to keep him away from spreading his sweat, which resulted in Neji using his Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven an accidently destroying the food. As tension grew between everyone over the recent event, an all-out brawl began. Ultimately, the late arrival of Fu with her out-spoken desire to make friends and play games caused everyone to lose their desire to fight. Later, while everyone returned to their rooms to prepare for the following day, an anxiously hungry Choji decided to go to the next building in hopes that the jonin supervisors would share their food. As Sakura and Ino went after their team-mate, they were attacked by a giant scorpion. They were saved by the joyful Fu who swiftly defeated the massive beast. After Choji got some food from Guy, everyone turned in for the night. The following day, the second exam began. Like the last exam in Konogakure, the teams were each given either a heaven or earth scroll and were required to within three days to obtain a matching set. They were then required to bring the set to main building in the center of the Demon Desert.

Once the second round begin, Ino and her teammates were seen jumping into their location to begin the second round. Team Asuma lost their provisions in a previous fight. Following Sakura's decision, they went for an oasis to replenish themselves. Taking so long to arrive, Ino and Sakura got into another heated argument. Their bickering was quickly ended by the attack of another giant scorpion. While Ino didn't have enough time to use her clan techniques and the scorpion overpowered Choji, Sakura surprised everyone by defeating the creature with a single punch. Afterwards, Ino healed Sakura's hand from the attack. With everyone calming down, they used the scorpion's meat as new provisions and commented on each other's growth, reasserted their desire to pass the exams.

Not feeling the provisions from the scorpion was enough, Ino insisted that the team go to the nearby oasis. Before arriving, they were cut off by a Suna-team. Knowing her sensory skills still are not strong enough to aid in actual combat, Ino takes Shikamaru's earlier advice and feigning recklessness. To which, Ino attacked first, letting the enemies counter and pretend to be knocked out. While the enemies then engage Sakura and Choji, Ino begins sensing the enemies' movement and telepathically informs her allies. Soon seeing through Ino's ploy, they erect a barrier to disrupt her ability to sense. This allows the enemies to continue their assault without resistance. Remembering what her allies and teachers taught her, Ino improves by linking minds with her allies, allowing them to counter-attack and defeat the Suna-nin. Afterwards, everyone calmly heals each other. While the Suna-nin openly admit defeat and offer their scroll, Sakura notes that it is unneeded as they already have two matching scrolls. The two teams then part ways, agreeing to meet again in the third exam.

Later, while Sakura collapsed from continuing her chakra training, Ino and her team was attacked by another Suna team. The leader of the team, Saya, attacked them 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 Choji, Saya canceled her technique on Ino and turned it on Choji. 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 Choji's mind and attempt to free him. Meanwhile Sakura was left to face the giant sized Choji alone.

Ultimately, Ino succeeds in expelling Saya from Choji's mind, much to Saya's horror. After which, Choji regained control of himself and attacked the enemies, forcing them to retreat. Later, with Ino and Choji 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. While Ino tried to keep up her sensory mode, her team convinced her to conserve chakra and rely on their eyes. The Konoha-nin easily dealt with the sand puppets, until one of them was revealed to be Mamushi in disguise and poisoned Ino and Choji. Afterwards, gaining enough chakra, Sakura was able to propel herself out of the sandstorm and defeat the enemies with a single strike. Afterwards, Sakura healed her team-mates, to which Ino and Choji voiced their pleasure in having Sakura for a team-mate. Later, Team Asuma was caught in a massive sandstorm.

Sasuke and Sai arc
Ino made her first reappearance shortly after Team Kakashi, and Team Gai returned from the successful mission of saving Gaara. She achieve the rank of a Chunin after taking the Chunin Exams. Ino made her debut from Naruto's point of view when having to come retrieve Choji for their mission with Asuma. She appeared again after Naruto and his team returned from their failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Upon meeting Sai, she quickly became interested in him, also noting that he resembled Sasuke.

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 Choji, 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 Guardians arc
She,Yamato, Sakura, Kiba, Rock Lee, Chōji and Shikamaru also turn up. Enraged, Sora wants to destroy everything, and turns into the three-tailed form of the demon fox. However, Yamato is unable to restrain him, because he does not have the First's necklace on him.

The chakra of the Nine-Tails rages out of control within Sora, preventing Naruto and the others from subduing him. Asuma and Kazuma resume their old battle. Naruto is repeatedly knocked down in his attempts to restrain Sora, and the chakra seeps into him and transforms him as well. Yamato is unable to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra in both jinchūriki, being prevented by an unknown outside force. Sora's fourth tail emerges, causing the Nine-Tails' cloak to envelop his body. He temporarily gains his own consciousness when he witnesses Naruto stab himself in the leg and successfully prevent the original Nine-Tails' cloak from emerging.

The struggle between Naruto and Sora continues. Asuma and Kazuma fight. Sai arrives, having snuck out of hospital, and binds Kazuma with an ink snake. Kazuma breaks out of Sai's technique and charges Asuma, but is killed. Naruto eventually reaches Sora, who manages to release the Nine-Tails' chakra. However the Nine-Tails' chakra that is released begins to become a miniature Nine-Tails. This provokes Tsunade to head out to engage the beast. It soon became clear that the miniature Nine-Tails could not form without a human host so it dissipated. Sora then leaves the village to travel the world. Asuma and Shikamaru play shogi and discuss who the king of Konoha is.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
When Tsunade decided to make a move against Akatsuki, Ino was assigned, along with Choji, 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 then had nothing to do but listen to Asuma's last words. Before dying, Asuma said that Ino is strong-willed and a reliable child, so she should take care of Choji and Shikamaru. 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. After the death of her sensei, Ino screamed out loud with grief. She was later seen at Asuma's funeral, mourning his loss.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji 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 backfired after Kakuzu attacked the hawk forcing her to return. During Team 10's fight with Hidan and Kakuzu, Ino largely played the role of an observer, her Mind Body Switch Technique being too much of a risk to use in battle stated by Shikamaru. In the anime, she saved Chōji from a fatal blow by Kakuzu before getting captured by him and almost choked to death along with Choji, but was saved by Kakashi and Shikamaru. After Naruto arrived and defeated Kakuzu, she healed him.

Three Tails arc
Ino was placed on Team Three to seal away the Three-Tails. To join her was Sakura, Hinata Hyūga, and Shizune. 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 was losing concentration. She was instructed by Shizune to relax and focus. Soon enough Rock Lee and Tenten arrived to protect her team. This comforted her until Rinji arrived to aid Guren. The battle begin to balance out with Tenten and Lee. This again got Ino unfocused and this time she broke hold from the seal and disrupted it. When the beast awakes he emerges from the water bringing forth a tidal wave and breaking the whole seal.

Later, Ino is found unconscious on Lee's back who carries 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 a ill Yūkimaru. Not long after the Konoha tried sealing the beast again. Yet Ino is knocked out once again and with that the mission fails. So the sealing is left to the ANBU members.

Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu arc
Ino is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Invasion of Pain arc
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, they tried to escape, to avoid capture. Despite their attempt, Pain arrived and captured Shizune, finding out what she knew, before killing her. She had mourned for a while. After he destroyed the village, Ino tried to revive Shizune, but could do nothing to help her, and regrouped with her father and the others. 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 Choji and Shikamaru

Konoha History arc
Ino was first seen in a flashback when Iruka became her academy Sensei. Then she was seen looking at her textbook.She was later seen when Sasuke show Iruka the Clone Technique, and yelled at Naruto for making Sasuke lose his confidence. She then laughed at Naruto for failing the Clone Technique, and went back to class. Then she was seen again as Sasuke did the Shuriken Technique. She then laughed at Naruto after he fail to do the Shuriken technique. She was later seen when Iruka asked the student if the saw Naruto,because he was absent from class. Later she was confuse when Iruka told her and the others to have study hall.

Lee arrives at Tsunade's tent and asks Sakura how she is feeling though Sakura nods her head no. Lee brought a bottle of medicine Guy made for her to get well and has a flashback of when Tsunade told him he could no longer become a ninja. Naruto and Sakura find Ino at the hospital who tells them they have a mission together. They say their hellos to Lee in his room. Lee accidentally drops his youth drink bottle that Guy made for him but Naruto catches it and drinks it all, putting Lee is dismay. Lee explains that, with the drink, he would be able to recover a little faster. Naruto decides to go see Guy and have him make another drink. Gai appoints Naruto to a mission to go to Mount Jofuku to retrieve the Jofuku Flower, a medicinal herb said to cure any illness, which is the missing ingredient in the medicine he is making. Before setting off, Naruto puts on the green jumpsuit that Guy gave him.

Naruto meets Sakura and Ino at the village gate who were waiting to leave with Naruto to their mission. Naruto tells them of his mission at Mount Jofuku which is also the place of his team's mission. The team takes a break at a small tea soup where the old lady there warns them of Jofuku Forest that has ghosts of dead ninja wandering about. The team head to Jofuku Forest where they find a large sign blocking a path. Naruto decides to go through it with Sakura and Ino following him, having no choice. Naruto finds the Jofuku Flowers but upon pulling them causes some sand appearing that forms into Gaara after the mention of him from Ino. The team are shocked to see "Gaara" and decide to retreat but suddenly the Gaara impostor starts attacking Naruto, having the same abilities as the real Gaara. Ino tries her Mind Body Switch Technique on the impostor but cannot sense a consciousness in it. Naruto destroys the Gaara impostor with the Uzumaki Naruto Combo and a Rasengan. Suddenly they are approached by an old medical ninja from Konoha named Furofuki who is doing research in the forest.

Sakura asks Furofuki who or what was the Gaara impostor. They are then answered that it was a Jofuku Flower, which assumes the form of the nemesis of whoever pulls it. They give Furofuki the letter that they were assigned to do and are given another mission by her to take loads of Jofuku Flowers back to Konoha. With the final ingredient at hand, Guy is able to finish the medicine and makes a bowl full of medicine balls for Lee. Lee is shocked to hear that Sakura and her team did this and decides to recover as soon as possible. While Lee starts devouring the horribly tasting medicine balls, Guy does 1000 push-ups, not wanting Lee to be the only one to suffer, and the flashback ends.

Team 10 tries to round up some hogs for the villagers to eat. Noticing their teamwork, Shikamaru remembers a time where the team also worked closely together in order to complete a mission. After a Village Headman's granddaughter was kidnapped by Baji, he hired Konohagakure's Team 7 and Team 10 for assistance. When the teams accepted the mission to stop Baji and rescue the girl, an ex-bandit named Tōfu acted as their guide. Shikamaru then instructed Asuma and Kakashi to find an alternate route to the Baji's fortress.

Tofu later gets captured and is revealed to be a double agent working for the gang leader. When the six genin infiltrated the fortress, Shikamaru agreed to a hostage exchange between him and Tofu in order to find out the location of the Headman's granddaughter. She and Choji managed to find the tower where the hostages were held, and later, helped defeat Baji. The mission ended with a success, the bandit group were captured, and the Headman's granddaughter was rescued. The scene then shifts back to present time, where Ino and Shikamaru leave Chōji the arduous task of carrying all the hogs back to the village.

Five Kage Summit arc
When news of Sasuke's affiliation with Akatsuki reaches Konoha, the Konoha 11 gather to discuss what should be done with him. The others suggest that they should personally eliminate Sasuke to prevent him from implicating Konoha in a war with another village. Ino is upset by this and she starts crying. Kiba demanded she stop, 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.

Chikara arc
Ino is seen battling some of Kabuto's reincarnated shinob.

Adventures at Sea arc
While on the way to the Land of Lightning, Naruto and his bodyguards stop off at a nearby island, due to all his bodyguards becoming seasick, Guy in particular. While there, they see Ino, Sakura and Choji picking up medicinal herbs on the orders of Tsunade and Naruto decides to help them, although he does not fare well, from eating poisonous herbs to being paralysed on a bridge. As Choji spots one of the medicinal herbs, some ninja from the Benisu Island appear and make the Konoha ninja waste their time, while collecting the exact same herbs. However, they have a change of heart and give Sakura, Ino and Choji all the herbs they picked up, as Naruto saved them from a monster protecting the Elixir Mud. With Guy feeling better, they head off towards the Land of Lightning and Tsunade's team back to Konoha happily, unaware that the Benisu ninja just gave them the herbs, so they could collect the debt owed after the war.

At a meeting held by the Hyuga clan regarding the impending war, Neji is appointed as the commander of the clan on the frontlines by Hiashi which shocked some of the members. Hinata later meets with Kurenai where she is told by Shikamaru that he and quite a few of the other members of the Konoha 11 had seen Naruto since he left the village and that Tsunade was looking for her.

Hopeful that Tsunade had in fact requested her to go on a mission so she could see Naruto she goes in search of her only to be disappointed. She along with the other females of the Konoha 11 and Shiho are later invited by Tenten to a girls night out at Yakiniku Q. Somewhat saddened that he wasn't invited, Choji comes up with the idea of a guys night out at the same place. The two groups talk about Naruto and the past, reminiscing about the first Chunin Exams. The girls are later joined by Shizune and a moderately intoxicated Tsunade. Tsunade attempts to apologise for how she dismissed Hinata earlier but Hinata tells her it was fine as she knew what she had to do. The next day during her training with Neji she tells him that she bore no ill will towards him for her father's decision and that he was the right person to lead them in the war.

As Team Asuma considers the impending war, they encounter Kosuke Maruboshi who reminds them of the time that they rescued him while they were still genin. With this, Kosuke retells the tale of the time their fathers saved him during the Invasion of Konoha with their Formation Ino–Shika–Cho. Somewhat rattled by this story, Kosuke reminds them that great shinobi weren't made in a day. As the team contemplates everything, they decide to perfect their own formation, insisting that they'd be fine because they were not alone.

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 Sakura with amnesia as she tries to keep Tsunade and Shizune from killing Sakura 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 Sakura'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 universe. When the other Sakura fades away, Ino is left severely confused as she wondered where the real Sakura is.

Fourth Shinobi War arc
When the Fourth Shinobi 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 Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji - 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 Johei, Darui says Kinkaku's name and Ino forces him to respond. As Kinkaku is sucked into the Kohaku no Johei, 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 Sarutobi Asuma, who had also been reincarnated. Choji 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, Choji still has difficulty fighting Asuma. As Asuma is about to attack Choji, Ino pushes him out of the way. She then uses the Mind Body Switch Technique on Choji and spars with Asuma, all the while reminding Choji of their duty. Choji eventually pulls himself together and Ino returns to her body. As Choji 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 Choji 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 Choji then head off to confront their old enemies. Familiar with the Oto ninja's skills, Shikamaru and Choji quickly defeat them. However, their victory is short-lived when Shikamaru, Choji, and the Sound ninja 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 Choji 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. Choji uses is Multi-Size Technique to block it and while Ino helped Shikamaru up. Shikamaru then uses his Shadow Neck Bind Technique to bind him and as he does so the rain starts getting worse making them not move and their technique weakening. As that happens the boy started calling their names as then Ino question how does he know them as Choji doesn't know him and neither does Shikamaru. The boy then came up to them and plucked their foreheads after that happened they realize 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 Haruno Sakura. Ino found out that she was also fighting Yota along with Inuzuka Kiba, and Akamaru. She also found out that Uzumaki Naruto was fighting him, and was told that those were not him just White Zetsu clones. So she helped Choji and Shikamaru defeated him, and it revert 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.

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 violet flower 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 Hyuga 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 Namikaze Minato had arrived on the battlefield.

With Uchiha Sasuke soon appearing on the scene too, Ino is shocked to see him. Then rushes over to inquire as to why he is there, much to the concern of Shikamaru and Choji. 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 Kakashi reunites, Ino smiles at Shikamaru noting how nostalgic it feels about the Rookie Nine being together again, just like in the Chunin 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 Aburame 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 Choji 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 Choji 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.

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 Choji support their failing comrade. During this time, Senju 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.

Uchiha 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 a Spiral Zetsu 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. Despite all of the alliance's efforts, Ino is still caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She is then stuck to the shinju tree with everyone else. In the genjutsu, Ino dreamed of Sasuke, and Sai fighting over her while her still alive father watched his daughter with pride in her. It's reveal that Ino was free by Minato from the Shinju tree. But Minato was unable to free her from the Infinite Tsukuyomi Technique. Ultimately, she later woke up once the Infinite Tsukuyomi was dispelled by Sasuke and Naruto after they ended the war.

Two years later after the war ended, when Shikamaru is heading to the mission to investigate Gengo, he sees his childhood friends and team-mates, Ino and Choji. 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, Choji 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".

When Ino and the others arrive and open a door to provide some light, Shikamaru tells her and the others on his plan that successfully made Gengo be taken into custody. After Gengo is arrested before she returns to home. Ino and her friends including Naruto stay behind to help the Land of Silence return to normal.

When Naruto and Hinata start dating after the defeat of Toneri, Ino 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 of between Shikamaru and Temari, Choji and the Kumogakure konoichi Karui, and her crush on Sai.

Years later in Konohagakure, there was an announcement of a certain special mission by the Sixth Hokage. It was a confidential mission that Naruto and Hinata could not know about at all. The mission was that "The people who are attending the wedding ceremony of Naruto and Hinata are to bring celebratory gifts". And so, the shinobi of Konohagakure raise the curtain on a mission to procure the items. Sakura and Ino bumped into one another at a general store. For some reason, a cooking showdown began. Soon, the wedding ceremony begins.

Epilogue
Years later, Ino eventually married Sai and together had a son named Inojin. Still being a high-strung person, easily scaring her son for even being late. She has begun training Inojin in the Yamanaka clan techniques and collaboration techniques of the Ino–Shika–Cho trio to become part of its newest generation.

Naruto movie 1
She was seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 1
Ino made a small cameo before Team Kakashi was being called up, she, Shikamaru, and Chōji were seen running through the streets.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 3
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 Shippuuden movie 5
Ino appears along with the other members of the Konoha 11 to help save Naruto from prison and help defeat Satori.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 6
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.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 7
She was with her team commenting how popular Naruto is now since the war. She was later seen at Ichiraku's with Naruto, Sakura and Chōji. When the meteors were falling to earth, Ino helped Kakashi communicate with the other Kage using her telepathy. Following Otsutsuki Toneri's defeat, Ino announces that the earth and its people were safe due to the efforts of the Hanabi Rescue Team. She later attends Naruto and Hinata's wedding, taking a photo of her 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.

Video Games
Yamanaka Ino is a playable character in the following video games:
 * Naruto RPG 2 Chidori vs Rasengan
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! Special
 * Naruto Shippuuden Kizuna Drive
 * Naruto Shippuuden Naruto vs Sasuke
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja 2
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 3
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 4
 * Naruto Konoha Senki
 * Naruto Ninja Council 3
 * Naruto Path of the Ninja 2
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 The Phantom Fortress

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.

Uzumaki Naruto
Like her friend Sakura, Ino originally considered Uzumaki Naruto as a loser compared to Sasuke. However, upon seeing Naruto's strength and unshakeable resolve during the Chunin Exams, Ino gradually grew to respect and like him as a friend. While she would often aid Naruto on missions with others, she partnered up with him only once in an anime-exclusive two-man mission that left her flabbergasted and getting into an argument with Naruto on the way back home. In the anime, after Naruto defeated Pain, Ino remarked that she could almost fall for him, much to her team-mates' shock.

During the Fourth Shinobi War, 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, with Ino and Choji 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. Realizing 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 sympathized 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 relieved thanked Sakura for her efforts once he returned to full strength as well as Naruto.

When 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 defenses 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 a Spiral Zetsu 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. Despite all of the alliance's efforts, Ino is still caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She is then stuck to the shinju tree with everyone else. Ultimately, she later woke up once the Infinite Tsukuyomi was dispelled by Sasuke and Naruto after they ended the war.

Two years later after the war, she was with her team commenting how popular Naruto is now since the war. She was later seen at Ichiraku's with Naruto, Sakura and Choji. She later attends Naruto and Hinata's wedding.

Haruno Sakura
During her childhood, Ino met Haruno Sakura way after the girl got bullied for the size of her forehead, Ino herself commented that Sakura's forehead was huge. In the Ninja 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. Ino then found out that Sakura had a crush on Sasuke, much to her dismay.

Some time later, she would defend 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 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.

When they battled each other during the Preliminaries matches to see who can make it to the finals, Ino and Sakura's rivalry pushed themselves to the limit. Forcing their match to be in a tie, with both of them not being the winner. Once the match was over, Ino told Sakura that she herself should be the one crying, and that she has now finally seen that Sakura has blossom into a beautiful flower instead of a bud. With Ino and Sakura finally declaring that their friendship is back on, but admit that their rivalry for Sasuke's affection still continues.

In Part II, while having a girls day out with Hinata and Tenten, Ino and Sakura remembered how hard they fought each other during the chunin exams, by smiling and laughing about it. But when Ino joked about how much Hinata loved Naruto and for Sakura caring about Sasuke, Ino saw Hinata and Sakura go into a depression state, to which Ino apologized to Sakura and Hinata for mentioning Naruto and Sasuke's name in front of them. When the Fourth Shinobi War began, Ino and Sakura didn't even show their rivalry in front of Sasuke when he arrive to help them battle the Ten Tails'. But when Shikamaru almost had all his chakra drained from the shinju tree, Sakura questioned why Naruto would go so far to help Shikamaru. Ino told Sakura that Naruto's not trying to help Shikamaru but he is trying to save him since it's his emotions, and heart that is trying to keep Shikamaru alive, which shock Sakura overall.

After the war ended, Ino gave up on her crush with Sasuke since she became more interested in Sai instead. But she and Sakura still decided to help each other out on missions. Meaning that Ino and Sakura's rivalry for Sasuke's affection had finally come to end with Ino telling Sakura to be more open minded with her feelings for Sasuke's sake when he returns to Konoha from his long journey of traveling the world.

Knownable Relatives

 * Yamanaka Inoichi (Father/dead)
 * Unamed Mother (Mother)
 * Sai (Husband)
 * Inojin (Son)
 * Shin (Brother in law/dead)
 * Haruno Sakura (Childhood Best Friend & #1 Rival)
 * Uzumaki Naruto (Childhood Classmate & Friend)
 * Uchiha Sasuke (Childhood Classmate & Former Love Interest)
 * Nara Shikamaru (Childhood Friend & Teammate)
 * Akimichi Choji (Childhood Friend & Teammate)
 * Umino Iruka (Childhood Sensei)
 * Sarutobi Asuma (Future Sensei/dead)

Trivia
According to the databook(s):
 * Ino is short for inoshishi (猪), meaning "boar", hence Sakura calling her Ino-pig-chan (いのブタちゃん). Yamanaka (山中) means "among the mountains". Wild boar are heavily associated with mountains in Japan, and are even called the whales of the mountains (山鯨), 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 shown in an 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 Ninja 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.
 * In the seventh Naruto Shippūden opening, Ino was shown fighting Konan with Hinata and Sakura, though in the manga, they did not fight her.
 * Ino's hobby is shopping.
 * Ino wishes for a rematch with Sakura.
 * Ino's favorite foods are cherry tomatoes and pudding, while her least favorite 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 favorite phrase is "The many meanings of flowers" (花言葉の数々).
 * Ino shares the same English voice actress as Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck from Bleach, Yoshino "Yoshi" Fujieda from Digimon Data Squad, Sora Takenouchi from Digimon Adventures and Jazz Fenton from Danny Phantom.

Voice Actresses

 * Japanese : Ryoka Yuzuki (2002 - Present)
 * English : Colleen O'Shaughnessey (2005 - Present)
 * Played by in (Live Action) : Anju Inami (Live Spectacle Naruto)

all information on Yamanaka Ino is from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Ino_Yamanaka