Ino Yamanaka/Synopsis (2024)

The story of Ino Yamanaka from the Naruto franchise.

Background[]

Ino is the only daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka and was a popular little girl during her time in academy. While in academy, she met Sakura Haruno, a little girl who was severely bullied for having a rather large forehead. Ino protected Sakura from the bullies and motivated her, gifting her a red ribbon which she could use to tie her hair up, exposing the forehead rather than hiding it by covering with hair. Ino's support and guidance through out the time helped Sakura to build her identity and confidence, and they both eventually became best friends. However, their sweet friendship was ruined by Sakura when she found out she had crush on the same boy, Sasuke Uchiha as Ino. From that moment Sakura declared Ino as her rival and returned back the ribbon to Ino. Since then they hated each other and traded with nicknames. However, they rekindled their friendship during the events of first chunin exams, but kept a competitive attitude towards each other, until later they again became best friends.

Part 1[]

Prologue[]

In the anime, Ino races Sakura toward the Academy, where they will be added to new teams along with other graduates of her class. Despite hoping to be on the same team as Sasuke, she is devastated that not only Sakura becomes Sasuke's teammate along with Naruto Uzumaki, but she herself is added to Asuma's Team 10 with Shikamaru and Chōji. Ino immediately lays ground rules for her new teammates to follow.

Chunin Exams[]

Despite her recent graduation, Asuma enters Team 10 in the Chūnin Exams being held in Konoha. Shortly before the exams begin, Ino greets Sasuke by cheerfully hugging him, much to his and Sakura's chagrin. For the first stage of the exams, they are given a written test with ten questions too difficult for the standard genin to be able to answer, and for which reason participants are expected to cheat without getting caught. Ino uses her Mind Body Switch Technique to cheat on Sakura's exam sheet and transfer the information to Shikamaru and Chōji.

For the second stage of the exams, Team 10 enters the Forest of Death to take part in a five-day survival exercise. Team 10 initially spends their time avoiding conflict, hiding whenever they come across another team. When they are soon noticed by Neji Hyūga, Ino tries using her charm to convince Neji into giving her team the scroll, though she fails miserably and her team immediately retreats from Neji's intimidation. When they discover Sakura defending her teammates from a team of Oto-nin by herself, Ino recalls her childhood memories of their friendship and finally decides to help her. Team 10 initiates Formation Ino–Shika–Chō: Chōji attacks Zaku Abumi with Human Bullet Tank, Shikamaru immobilises Dosu Kinuta with his Shadow Imitation Technique, and Ino uses her Mind Body Switch on Kin Tsuchi. Ino tries to use Kin as a hostage, but Zaku opts to attack Kin himself rather than let her be used against him. Too tired to offer much more of a fight, Team 10 wonders what to do. When Sasuke regains consciousness and activates his new cursed seal, Ino becomes frightened by the dark change in Sasuke's chakra and released herself from Kin's body. After the Oto-nin retreat, the Konoha genin take their leave, but not before Ino fixes Sakura's hair.

After passing the second stage, the remaining genin take part in one-on-one preliminary matches. For her match, Ino is paired against Sakura. They start by trading insults and then punches, surprising Ino because Sakura proves her equal in both categories. Frustrated, Ino follows Sakura's earlier example by cutting her hair, a ruse that allows her to immobilise Sakura while she uses her Mind Body Switch Technique. In control of Sakura's body, Ino tries to make her forfeit the match, but she is stopped and exorcised by Inner Sakura. They are both exhausted by this, but exchange one final blow, knocking both out. When they later wake up, Ino informs her that their match was ruled a tie, and that therefore neither of them will continue to the finals. Despite this, they decide to rekindle their friendship, though can't help but continue to bicker over Sasuke.

A few days later, Ino accompanies Sakura to visit Sasuke at the hospital with flowers, but discover he is gone. Instead, they see Lee training despite his injuries, causing him to fall unconscious as a consequence. On the day of the finals, Ino sat with Sakura in the audience and tried to cheer her up when Sasuke hadn't arrived yet. She becomes impressed by Naruto's victory over Neji and cheers for Shikamaru in his match with Temari, though is left shocked when he voluntarily gives up. Sasuke finally arrives for his match with Gaara, and Ino watches the fight with interest, noting to Sakura that her teammates are amazing.

Sasuke Recovery[]

Team 10 goes to Yakiniku Q to celebrate Shikamaru's promotion to chūnin, though Ino becomes angered by Chōji's gluttony and nearly insults him before Shikamaru silences her. She reveal she has been dieting to lose weight and make her more attractive, and jokingly suggests for Chōji to do the same before walking off. After the failed attempt to stop Sasuke from defecting from Konoha due to Kimimaro's intervention, Ino and Sakura visited the injured at the hospital, showing great relief at Chōji's survival (having use the 3 colored pills against Jirobo) due to Tsunade's efforts and using the extensive research of the Nara Clan.

Konoha Crush[]

Ino and the rest of the audience are put to sleep by genjutsu as the Konoha Crush begins. Several days after the invasion is successfully repelled, she attends the Third Hokage's funeral

Mizuki Tracking Mission[]

Team 10 helps Naruto round up escaped prisoners from the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility. They use their Formation Ino–Shika–Chō to restrain the Legendary Stupid Brothers until Tsunade can arrive to defeat them.

Academy Student Lead Mission[]

Ino is put in charge of a team of Academy students to teach them survival skills.

Matchmaking Proxy Mission[]

Ino, escorted by Naruto, is hired to replace the recently overweight Princess f*cku in wooing her suitor Chikara. The mission's predicaments and Naruto's interference angers Ino to a point where she reveals an Inner Ino, similar to Sakura's "Inner Sakura". The mission ends with success, but Ino is baffled as to why some men like chubby women.

Konoha Plans Recapture Mission[]

Ino and Sakura are sent to examine a corpse that was believed to be that of Gennō. They conclude that it is not actually him. Ino later tries to use her Mind Body Switch Technique on the real Gennō, but the tremendous pain his body is under forces her to cancel the technique.

Sunagakure Support Mission[]

In the anime, Ino and the rest of the Konoha 11 are sent to help the Three Sand Siblings defeat the Four Celestial Symbols Men; she and Shikamaru aid Temari in her fight with Kujaku. While Kujaku is eventually defeated, Ino feels she contributed little in the fight and, back in Konoha, asks to train with Sakura to be a medical-nin. Sakura agrees, but Ino is dismayed when Sakura reminds her that she will be her junior during the course of their training.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths[]

In about two years after Naruto leaves Konoha to train, another Chūnin Exams is held. Because participants must enter as part of three-man teams, Ino invites Sakura to be Shikamaru's replacement on Team 10 since Shikamaru is already a chūnin. During the first exam, Ino, Sakura, and Chōji are seated in different rooms and are tasked with getting a combined score of exactly 100 points on their written test despite their separation. Ino telepathically contacts Sakura and Chōji in order to assign which questions to answer. After the initial testing period is over, they are given a bonus question: each team must unanimously select one of their members to disqualify from the rest of the exams. Team 10 selects nobody, which is the correct answer and which qualifies them for the next phase.

Those who pass the first exam must reach the Demon Desert within three days in order to participate in the second exam. Team 10 successfully does so and they are given the same objective as they had in the exam several years ago: obtain a scroll from another team. They wander through the desert for three days, losing their provisions to an Ame-team. While recuperating at an oasis, they are confronted by Team Ameno, and Ino is knocked out attempting to attack them. Awakening and remembering her training, she uses her sensing abilities to locate their attackers and telepathically links with Sakura and Chōji once more, allowing them to coordinate their attacks and defeat Team Ameno. Once Sakura and Ino heal their injuries, Team Ameno offers them their scroll. However, theirs is the same scroll that Team 10 already has, so they are allowed to keep it. They go their separate ways, agreeing to meet again in the third exam.

Team 10 is later attacked by Team Saya. Saya possesses Ino's mind and forces her to attack Sakura. When Chōji, meanwhile, begins overwhelming Saya's teammates, Saya possesses his mind instead, and she forces him to attack Sakura using his Super Multi-Size Technique. Ino is able to release Chōji using her Mind Body Switch Technique, forcing Team Saya to retreat. Team 10 is afterward trapped in a sandstorm, during which Ino and Chōji are poisoned by a cloaked Mamushi. Sakura escapes the sandstorm, defeats Team Saya, and then returns to heal Ino and Chōji.

Team 10 is eventually found by one of the exam's proctors, who brings them to where all of the other genins are being assembled. They are informed that the Chūnin Exams have been canceled; reports on the participants' performances will be sent back to their villages, leaving their promotion up to their superiors. When they get back to Konoha, Tsunade promotes Ino, Sakura, and Chōji to chūnin.

Part II[]

Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission[]

Ino comes to retrieve Chōji for their mission with Asuma and, along the way, happily greets Naruto after having not seen him in years. When Team 7 later returns from their failed mission to retrieve Sasuke, Team 10 visits them in the hospital where Kakashi is resting. Ino immediately expresses interest in Sai, who looks very similar to Sasuke, but Sakura tells her that his personality is much different. While their teachers discuss private matters, both teams have lunch at Yakiniku Q; Ino sits next to Sai and flirts with him. Sai, in an attempt to make friends by giving them nicknames, calls Ino "beautiful", causing her to blush and Sakura to become enraged, as Sai previously called her "ugly".

Twelve Guardian Ninja[]

when Furido's 4-Man team invades the village, Ino joins other Konoha-nin in fighting off Fudō's zombies. She recognises the enemies as members of the Kohaku Clan and serves as medical support for her allies. When the zombies are defeated, Ino and some of the Konoha 11 set out to assist Team 7 in dealing with Sora's jinchūriki transformation. She tries using her Mind Body Switch Technique to possess Sora in his Nine-Tails' Version 1 state but fails as she notes that his consciousness has vanished.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission[]

Ino and Chōji are assigned to one of the Twenty Platoons, a task-force assigned to hunt down Akatsuki members within the Land of Fire. Led by Raidō Namiashi and Aoba Yamashiro, the team is called in for back-up when Asuma's team engages Hidan and Kakuzu of Akatsuki. When they arrive, however, the Akatsuki members flee and Asuma's injuries are too severe for Ino to heal. Sensing his death, Asuma gives parting words to his students: he praises Ino's confident personality and tells her to look after Shikamaru and Chōji, as well as to not lose to Sakura in any pursuit. Ino mourns Asuma's death and later attends his funeral in Konoha with Choji, asking him why Shikamaru hasn't arrived.

Once Shikamaru gets everything ready, he sets out with Ino and Chōji to hunt down Hidan and Kakuzu. Tsunade tries to persuade them not to go, but they are all confident in what they plan to do. She tries to hold them back on the grounds that they need a fourth member, at which point Kakashi Hatake appears and volunteers to be their fourth, causing Tsuande to relent. After the team review their battle strategy, Ino uses her Mind Body Switch Technique on a hawk to locate Hidan and Kakuzu. The team engages the Akatsuki duo in battle, though Ino cannot contribute much to the fight as her Mind Body Switch alone is too risky to use in battle. Since Hidan and Kakuzu are formidable working together, Team 10 realises the duo need to be separated to defeat them. Ino volunteers to lead Hidan away, but Shikamaru insists on her not to and goes in her place.

Even with each side one member short, Kakuzu still manages to easily overwhelm and capture Kakashi and Team 10. His attempt to kill them is blocked by the combined efforts of Naruto and Yamato, who arrive with Sakura and Sai to lend assistance. While Sakura and Sai set out to help Shikamaru, Naruto fights Kakuzu and eventually defeats him with his newly-created Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Afterward, Ino heals Naruto's injuries and praises him for his improved skills before they return to Konoha. In the anime, Ino visits Neji and Hinata Hyūga and tells them about the mission's events and Naruto's new technique.

Three Tail's Appearance[]

Ino joins a surgical operation at Konoha Hospital and receives praise from another surgeon for her efforts. She is later assigned to a team tasked with sealing the Three-Tails, but experiences more difficulty in maintaining the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier than her teammates. They are interrupted by Team Guren before they can complete the sealing, prompting Konoha to recall them and send Anbu to seal the Three-Tails in their place.

Pain's Assault[]

When Pain begins his assault on Konoha, Ino rushed to the village's Intelligence Division to inform her father of the attack. Shizune soon arrives and they exchange information about Pain's identity and the method of his Six Paths Technique. They are soon attacked by the Animal Path's rhinoceros, but are shielded by segments of Katsuyu; in the manga, Ino is shocked by Katsuyu's presence, but calmly recognises her in the anime. They relocate with the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team to further deduce Pain's location, though the Human Path ambushes them and captures Shizune, reading her mind before killing her.

Pain destroys the village, but Ino and the villagers saved from harm by Katsuyu. While Naruto fights Pain alone, she and her father meet up with Shikamaru and Shikaku Nara to pool their knowledge about Pain. With their combined information, they hypothesize that Pain is actually being controlled remotely by someone, likely from the highest point near Konoha. Ino and Shikamaru stay behind while their fathers search for Pain/Nagato, who is eventually defeated by Naruto and revives everyone he killed in Konoha. Upon Naruto's return to Konoha, Ino joins in the celebration of his victory; in the anime, she says she could almost fall for Naruto, surprising Chōji and Shikamaru.

Five Kage Summit[]

News reaches Konoha of Sasuke's recent activity with Akatsuki, namely his attack against Kumogakure-ninja. Most of the Konoha 11 decide that Sasuke can no longer be allowed to implicate Konoha in his criminal deeds and they resolve to personally kill him. Crestfallen by this decision, Ino cries uncontrollably over Sasuke and has to be comforted by Chōji and Tenten. When Naruto returns to Konoha after learning of this and having his own confrontation with Sasuke, he requests that they leave dealing with Sasuke to him.

Power[]

In the anime, Ino arrived as back up for Team Kakashi and took care of an injured Sakura. With assistance from her teammates, she later battled a snake clone of Hidan made by Kabuto Yakushi.

Paradise Life on a Boat[]

In the anime, Tsunade sends Ino, Sakura, and Chōji to Benisu Island to pick medicinal herbs. Although the locals initially try interfering, Naruto is able to convince them to help instead.

Road to Sakura[]

While on her day off, Ino sees Sakura falling to the ground and takes her to Tsunade for medical attention. Seeing that Sakura has amnesia, Ino and the rest of Konoha 11 tries to jog her memory by acting differently from their usual selves, but this fails. After encountering Sakura's parents, it is eventually revealed that this Sakura is from an alternate reality. The alternate Sakura disappears, leaving Ino to ponder where the real Sakura is.

Fourth Shinobi World War[]

Ino is placed in the Allied Shinobi Forces' Fifth Division. She and part of her division are later sent to provide support for the First Division, meeting Chōji and Shikamaru along the way. As they near the First Division's location, Shikaku contacts Shikamaru, Chōji, and Ino and tells them about the first threat they'll need to deal with: Kinkaku, who possesses some of the Nine-Tails' chakra. When they arrive, they use Formation Ino–Shika–Chō on Kinkaku, ensuring his capture at Kohaku no Jōhei. After Kinkaku's defeat, Team 10 is immediately confronted by a reincarnated Kakuzu, who is interested in fighting them. Shikaku contacts them and instructs them to deal with another threat instead: a reincarnated Asuma.

Although none of them want to fight Asuma, they, as his former students, are experts on his fighting style and thus the best-qualified to defeat him. When he notices their presence, Asuma congratulates them for their clear growth since he last saw them. They attack him and he's forced to counter, but he gives pointers about how to avoid his attacks and ultimately defeat him. Ino and Shikamaru are committed to the fight, but Chōji has difficulty bringing himself to strike Asuma, to everyone's frustrations, Asuma's included. Ino saves Chōji's life twice from Asuma's attacks and, using the Mind Body Switch Technique on Chōji, tells him he needs to pull himself together so they can defeat Asuma. Once Chōji is able to do so, Ino leaves Chōji's body and takes control of two White Zetsu soldiers to attack Asuma, moving him toward Shikamaru and Chōji so they can restrain him. Defeated, Asuma gives them new parting words: that he has nothing more to teach them since their teamwork is now perfect.

By nightfall, the First Division's battle appears won: all the reincarnated forces have been captured and all present elements of the White Zetsu Army have been defeated. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path suddenly appears on the battlefield and starts devastating the First Division, causing Ino and her team to take cover. The statue later vanishes after Tobi escapes with the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei, which contain the reincarnated Gold and Silver Brothers. The following day, White Zetsu infiltrated the Allied Shinobi Forces. In the anime, the reincarnated Sound Four also attack the members of the former Sasuke Recovery Team. While Shikamaru and Chōji defeat their opponents, the Sound Four's defeat activates Space-Time Technique Formula: Underworld Turnover, separating the Recovery Team's souls from their bodies and trapping them within a barrier in a remote location. Ino risks her life to keep her unconscious teammates alive by transferring her chakra to them simultaneously, despite warnings from her other allies. Inoichi telepathically contacts Ino and informs her of the technique's mechanisms, but he is unable to detect the barrier's location and thus have it destroyed so the victims can be freed. Naruto does so eventually, however, and Shikamaru and Chōji's souls are restored to their bodies, causing a relieved Ino to tearfully hug them.

Team 10 later encounter their reincarnated childhood friend Yota, whose emotionally-fuelled weather manipulation push the team back. As the trio contemplate having to fight Yota, Inoichi contacts them and links them to others also fighting Yota, including Kiba Inuzuka, Sakura and Naruto. Realising the Yota in front of them is a White Zetsu clone, Ino, and her teammates defeat it.

White Zetsu clones disguising themselves as allies, so the only way to tell is through Negative Emotions Sensing. Ino's group was forced to create individual circles to wait until Naruto comes to expose the enemies. Ino suggests asking each other personal questions, but Shikamaru insists not to as it is possible that the enemy could guess correctly. After she greets Naruto, Ino helps kill the remaining White Zetsu clones.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax[]

After being informed by her father at HQ that Naruto and Killer B were fighting the "masked murderer", Ino and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As she runs, she thanks her father for relaying Naruto's strong feelings to everyone and promises that his foretelling of their victory will be realized. Ino and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces arrive just in time as she, with Hinata Hyūga's aid, uses her Mind Body Switch Technique on Tobi to shift the Tailed Beast Ball away from Naruto’s group. Shikaku Nara, through Inoichi's telepathic link, relays a plan of restraining the Ten-Tails to the assembled Allied Forces, but the plan is unsuccessful. Obito and Madara Uchiha are nevertheless concerned by Shikaku's strategies and have the Ten-Tails fire a Tailed Beast Ball at the distant Allied HQ, where Inoichi and Shikaku are stationed. Before the HQ is destroyed, Inoichi tells a crying Ino that he is proud of his daughter for blossoming into the bush clover of the Yamanaka Clan and making strong bonds with her friends.

With no time to grieve, the remaining Allied Forces enact Shikaku's last plan after being empowered by Naruto's version 1-like cloaks: a large-scale Formation Ino–Shika–Chō. Obito is unable to break free of Ino's improved Mind Body Switch Technique, which enables her to save Chōji from being skewered by the Ten-Tails' wooden spikes. She releases her technique and returns to her body once Shikamaru and other Nara members restrain the Ten-Tails. The attack succeeds in removing the Ten-Tails from the two Uchihas' control, but this makes its attacks more devastating and indiscriminate. When the Ten-Tails prepares to destroy the Allies with a Tailed Beast Ball, Ino uses the Mind Body Transmission Technique to connect Shikamaru with Kitsuchi and teach him a simple protective wall. Obliging to Shikamaru's request regardless of her capability, Ino manages through some strain to connect Shikamaru to the rest of the Allies so that he can teach them this same Jutsu and use it to try and deflect the Tailed Beast Ball. It breaks through all their defences but is slowed enough for the reincarnated Fourth Hokage to arrive in time to save them.

Sasuke Uchiha arrives shortly after the Fourth, claiming to now want to help protect Konoha by defeating the Ten-Tails. A surprised Ino immediately rushes toward Sasuke's location before her teammates warn her to stay away from him. With their whole graduating class together again, which Ino finds nostalgic, the members of Teams 7, 8, and 10 attack the Ten-Tails' Fissions. For Team 10's contribution, they use the Human Bullet Yo-Yo, where Ino uses her Sensing Technique to detect the number of enemies present and transmits the information into Shikamaru's mind so he can have Chōji attack them. Their formation is quite successful but does not compare to the amount of damage inflicted by Team 7's members. Ino later noticed that something was troubling Shikamaru, but he dismissed her.

Ino's active telepathy soon conveys Naruto's feelings and memories, as well as those of Hashirama, to the entire Alliance, giving them the morale they need to keep fighting. While Naruto and Sasuke engage Obito in battle, a version 1 cloak begins forming around Shikamaru as Sakura heals him; Ino senses from her technique that it is due to Naruto's subconscious desire to protect his comrades. After thanking Naruto and Sakura for Shikamaru's recovery, Ino relays Tsunade's message, when she arrives on the battlefield, of Katsuyu's healing abilities to the Alliance. She then helps Naruto and Sasuke defeat Obito, first by joining the rest of the Konoha 11 in hitting Obito with one of Naruto's Rasengan and then by assisting the Allies in pulling the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito's body.

Even though Obito was defeated, other threats still remain: a final Zetsu begins overwhelming most of the Alliance, which they're all too weak to put up much fight against. During this time, Ino senses Naruto's weakened physical state caused by the Nine-Tails' extraction from his body. When the Infinite Tsukuyomi is cast upon the world, the majority of people get encased in the extended God Tree roots.

Kaguya Otsusuki Strikes[]

In her dream, Ino is fought over by Sasuke and Sai as she joyfully asks them not to, while her still-alive father watches her with pride. Eventually, Naruto and Sasuke eventually release the Infinite Tsukuyomi, freeing Ino and the rest of the world from the God Tree roots and ending the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The Last: Naruto the Movie[]

Two years after the war, Team 10 walk by the Academy where Naruto is teaching a class, Ino noting he has become very popular with many people, mostly women, since saving the world. Team 10 later has dinner with Naruto and Sakura at Ichiraku Ramen, and Ino invites Hinata to come to sit with them when she appears. Using her telepathy, she alerts the Sixth Hokage of meteors falling towards Earth and receives a message from Kumogakure about a telecommuted Five Kage Summit. After Toneri Ōtsutsuki is defeated, Ino announces to the Earth and its people that they were safe due to the Hanabi Rescue Team. Sometime later, Ino is seen enjoying Sai's company.

Sometime later, Ino and Sai eventually got married and sometime after, had a son named Inojin, whom they help train to become part of the new generation Ino–Shika–Chō.

Boruto: Naruto The Movie[]

Ino hangs out with Sakura and Temari one day and they see Naruto's shadow clones running around to help out villagers. The three women later sit together to watch the Chūnin Exams' final round, where Ino becomes exasperated when Shikadai Nara mirrors his father's actions in his youth by giving up against Boruto Uzumaki. When Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki attack the arena, Ino proceeds to evacuate the endangered from the ensuing battle.