The Yamanaka clan's historical records were extensive and varied. It would take at least three to five years to read through all of them, and Ino didn't have that much time. She mostly skimmed through the records after the First and Third Hokage eras.
Inoichi, wanting to bond more with his daughter, noticed her interest in history and would intentionally share some intriguing anecdotes.
To maintain the persona of a twelve-year-old girl and avoid deviating too much from the original character, Ino would occasionally ask questions during casual conversations that left Inoichi scratching his head, such as "How many girlfriends did the Sage of Six Paths have?" or "Did the Third Hokage marry the Flower Goddess?"
She read during the day when the yang energy was strong and practiced the Mind Body Switch Technique at night when the yin atmosphere was at its peak.
After using the Mind Body Switch Technique on a poor little deer borrowed from the Nara clan about ten times, Ino had pretty much mastered this Secret Technique.
The pentagram pattern on the right side of her status panel showed noticeable changes. The character for "Yin" in the middle of the five elements—Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water—had transformed from a misty swirl to a solid form.
This indicated that Ino had initially developed Yin-based chakra among the seven chakra natures.
Strictly speaking, this should be called chakra nature transformation—Wind Release chakra nature transformation, Yin Release chakra nature transformation, and so on. However, it was often simplified to chakra nature, which, while not precise, conveyed the same meaning.
Through extensive study, Ino's knowledge of ninja techniques had become quite rich.
She had formed a general understanding of Yin-Yang Release, Yin-Yang Style, and Yin-Yang Power.
Yin-Yang Style was too advanced. It was an advanced ability developed by the Sage of Six Paths by combining Yin Release and Yang Release, somewhat like Earth Release plus Water Release becoming Wood Release, but Yin-Yang Style was on a much higher level than Wood Release.
Naruto, after receiving Yin-Yang Style chakra from the Sage of Six Paths, saved Guy's life and restored one of Kakashi's eyes. This ability didn't belong to him; the chakra was finite, and by the time Naruto lost his arm, he had already exhausted his Yin-Yang Style ability, relying on Hashirama's cells for recovery.
Currently, only the Sage of Six Paths possessed the ability to use Yin-Yang Style.
In Ino's view, the Yin-Yang Power that created a moon in Sasuke's left hand and a sun in Naruto's right hand was simpler—it was the sealing technique used to seal Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Black Zetsu schemed and manipulated for a thousand years, jumping left and right, stirring up trouble. The Sage of Six Paths observed silently, smiling without a word, quietly developing a technique. No need to understand the principles—just a foolproof operation. A slow motion with the left and right hands, and in one second, the seal was complete, rendering a thousand years of effort futile. This was the Sage of Six Paths' Mother's Day gift to his dear mother.
Beyond this function, Yin-Yang Power had no other uses.
Yin Release and Yang Release were very common. Genjutsu, the Yamanaka clan's Secret Techniques, and the Nara clan's Secret Techniques all fell under the category of Yin Release, while medical ninjutsu and the Akimichi clan's Secret Techniques belonged to Yang Release.
Many ninjas possessed Yin and Yang Release attributes, but they were easy to learn and hard to master. Ino glanced at the black-and-white "Yin" character on her status panel and then at her Pot Points.
Using chakra paper to test, Ino's body was well-suited for Water Release chakra, which could be considered her initial chakra nature.
Initially possessing an attribute doesn't mean one can use the corresponding Release Technique. Iruka has both fire and earth attributes, but without training in chakra nature transformation, he can't use any of the five elemental Release Techniques.
Naruto's initial attribute is wind. To develop his wind attribute chakra and use Wind Release, he must undergo rigorous training.
If she invests Pot Points, Ino could immediately develop her water attribute chakra. After learning the corresponding ninja techniques, she would be able to use Water Release.
After some thought and consulting with Inoichi, she decided to slowly develop her water attribute chakra herself, reserving her precious Pot Points for Yin Release.
There's a wealth of experience in developing the five elemental Release Techniques, offering plenty of references. However, the development experience for Yin and Yang Release Techniques is scarce, mostly held by the major clans. Ino couldn't possibly learn the secret techniques of the Nara clan, and it was unrealistic for her to study genjutsu. With the Laughing Four still active today, learning genjutsu would be a waste of time. Beyond these methods, improving the Yin attribute is extremely difficult.
Ino's solution was to add points! Add Yin Release! Investing one Pot Point, the originally black and white "Yin" character underwent a noticeable change, becoming more three-dimensional, with the font color turning silver. Upon closer inspection, it even seemed to shimmer slightly.
Ino secretly scoffed, wondering if this was graded like silver, gold, platinum, and so on.
Despite her sarcasm, the effect of adding points was immediate. Her demeanor instantly became two shades colder, her sensory range doubled, and her spiritual energy became extremely condensed. The progress in learning the second stage of the Mind Disturbance Technique even left Inoichi in disbelief.
According to Inoichi's initial estimate, it would take his daughter three to five years to master the Mind Body Switch Technique and the Mind Disturbance Technique. Now? He estimated it would take about three months.
His daughter's talent in Yin Release far exceeded his expectations, leaving him momentarily dazed.
A month later, Ino returned to the school she had left long ago.
She could have continued training at home, but she was short on Pot Points—desperately so. With too many areas needing points, she had to step out and stir up some trouble.
"Ino-pig, I heard you were sick?" Sakura's words made it hard to discern her true feelings.
Ino took out the thermos prepared by Yamanaka Rino, poured out a cup of extremely thick medicine, and without looking, pinched her nose and drank it with a numb expression.
With Yin Release raised to level two, her spiritual energy surged significantly, and her chakra saw a slight increase. After a month of hard training and consuming various expensive herbs, her "Stamina" attribute also rose from 5 to 6.
This wasn't just from adding points; half the credit for this 1 attribute point increase was due to Yin Release, and the other half was from drinking medicine, which reportedly cost a lot of money.
Now, even Ino's burps smelled of medicine. She waved her hand, "I'm sick, stay away from me."
Sakura scrutinized Ino, mainly her height.
Originally, Ino was two centimeters taller than Sakura, but now she seemed even taller.
Most importantly, there was that somewhat gloomy aura, filling Sakura with a sense of crisis.
Sasuke always had a gloomy expression, could it be that he liked people with such a cold demeanor? Sakura felt she had uncovered Ino's scheme.
"Ino-pig, I got first place in last week's exam, and Sasuke-kun looked at me several times," Sakura said with her hands behind her back, chin raised, and a proud expression on her face.
"Yeah, yeah, you're amazing. Anything else? If not, hurry up and leave."
Sakura furrowed her brows, seemingly wanting to say more, but Ino's stiff attitude drove her away.
Busy! Ino was very busy now and had no time to waste.