Ino Yamanaka

"It's not a matter of can or can't, I'm doing it!"

- Ino to Shikamaru.

Ino Yamanaka (山中いの, Yamanaka Ino) is one of the main supporting characters of the Naruto series. She is a chūnin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan and a member of Team Asuma. She eventually marries Sai and has a son named Inojin Yamanaka.

She is voiced by Ryoka Yuzuki in the Japanese version of the anime, and Colleen Villard in the English version of the anime.

Appearance
Ino has fair skin, blue eyes (sometimes seen as green in the manga), and long platinum blonde hair worn in a ponytail, with bangs framing the right side of her face. Her hair is seen in different lengths: in Part I, her ponytail extends to her waist, but it is later cut and grows to shoulder-length; in Part II, the bangs grow to cover half of her face, her ponytail becomes waist-length, and she sports a red clip on the left; in the The Last: Naruto the Movie, her hair is hung loosely and extends to her calves; as an adult, her hairstyle returns to its shape in Part II, but her ponytail reaches her upper-back and sports a black clip. In Part II, Sai mentions that Ino is very beautiful.

Ino regularly wears a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt. In Part I, she sports this attire with bandages on her abdomen and legs, small hoop-earrings, her forehead protector worn as a belt, and for a time, white arm warmers. In Part II, Ino's outfit is slightly more revealing as she discards her forehead protector and bandages while exposing her midriff and wears mesh armour on her thighs, elbows and knees. She also replaces her hoop earrings with studs, a gift from Asuma Sarutobi. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino dons the standard Konoha infantry flak jacket and assorted clothing. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, she wears a longer skirt that reaches her ankles, high-heeled sandals and pink lipstick.

As an adult, Ino wears her purple outfit again exposing her midriff with one mesh warmer on her left arm and open-toed sandals. She also dons the standard Konoha uniform while on missions.

Personality
From her childhood, Ino has been confident, friendly, bold, and outspoken, sometimes lashing out at others if their personal habits bother her.[9] She is generally more motivated than her team-mates Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi and tends to take charge of them. Shikamaru, despite finding most girls "troublesome", typically offers no resistance to Ino's forceful behavior, being unwilling to deal with her reaction if things don't happen her way.[10] She is also prideful in her appearance and often tries to lose weight by dieting in the hopes that it will make her more attractive to boys; she even jokingly suggests that Chōji should do the same to attract girls.[11] Ino is quite knowledgeable about different types and meanings of flowers, sometimes making analogies to them when talking.[12]

Despite her assertiveness, Ino is a compassionate and kind person at heart, having been raised to embody the meaning of the bush clover: a blunt, candid love who treasures the bonds with her friends.[13] It is these qualities that earned Sakura Haruno's friendship, defending Sakura from bullies who teased her and helping her become confident. Their warm friendship developed into a bitter rivalry over the following years, fueled by competition of Sasuke's affections, ninjutsu and even trading insults, with Ino as "Ino-pig" (いのぶた, Ino-buta) and Sakura as "Forehead Girl" (デコリーン, Dekorīn, English TV: Bilboard Brow). After the Chūnin Exams, Ino becomes impressed by Sakura's growth and they rekindle their friendship, while maintaining their rivalry on more amiable terms. She cares greatly for her team-mates as well, being relieved that they survived after the failed Sasuke Recovery Mission,[14] promising her sensei Asuma Sarutobi to look after them after he dies,[15] and during the Fourth Shinobi World War, encouraging them to stay strong in the face of danger.[16] By the time of his death, Inoichi believed that Ino had truly blossomed into the bush clover of the Yamanaka Clan, and is proud of her bonds with her friends.

Ino had the same infatuation on Sasuke that most other girls in their Academy class had, due to his good looks and cool personality. Even after Sasuke's defection from Konoha, Ino largely retained her feelings for him in Part II: she cried when he was declared an international criminal,[17] and pictured him as the "love" the bush clover symbolises during the Fourth Shinobi World War.[18] Ino meets Sai in Part II, who not only replaces Sasuke on Team 7, but also strongly resembles him in appearance. For this reason, Ino becomes immediately smitten with him, flirting with him when first introduced and blushing when Sai called her beautiful.[19] Although her Infinite Tsukuyomi dream reveals she likes the idea of Sasuke and Sai fighting over her, Ino's affections ultimately shift toward Sai, showing a deeper desire to know more about him as she risks her life to save him in Shikamaru Hiden. Sai reciprocates Ino's feelings and the two marry years later, having a son, Inojin. As a mother, Ino's personality is relatively the same, but she has greater respect for her clan and its traditions, insisting they be passed down to the next generation to form a new Ino–Shika–Chō.

Trivia

 * Her English voice actress, Colleen Villard is best known voicing as Sora Takenouchi from Digimon Adventure series, Yoshino Fujieda from Digimon Data Squad, Angie Hinomoto from Digimon Fusion, Wasp in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Tails from Sonic Boom, Jazz Fenton from Danny Phantom.