Ino x Sakura

Pairing
Pairing:	Ino Yamanaka x Haruno Sakura
Alternative name(s):	SakuIno
Gender category:	Yuri, F/F
Fandom:	Naruto
Canonical?:	Non-Canon
Prevalence:	Popular in yuri, less common in fandom overall
Archives:
Other:
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Ino x Sakura, also known as SakuIno, is a pairing in Naruto fandom. Their canon relationship is that of childhood friends who become rivals in later years, though the rivalry isn't as serious as other ones shown in the series.

History

In their childhood, Sakura and Ino were best friends. They first became friends because Ino approached Sakura about her being bullied for having a large forehead. Ino gave her a red ribbon to pull her hair back to make it better. After that they had become friends and when they were comparing themselves to flowers, Ino explained that Sakura was just a flower that had not bloomed yet but would be very pretty when she did. Both of them fell for Sasuke who as in their class at the ninja academy. When they both learnt of this, their opinions of each other soured. Sakura gave back her ribbon, since she decided that they had to be rivals.

Sakura was placed on the same team as Sasuke which made Ino jealous. However, while in the Forest of Death, Ino saw Sakura being attacked by Sound Village Genin and decided to have her team protect her. After the fight, Ino helped Sakura cut her hair but was annoyed with the fact that she hugged Sasuke from behind. During the preliminary matches, they were forced to fight each other and it ended in a double knockout. However, they recognized each other as equals again because of this.

When Sakura decided to train under Tsunade in order to become a medical ninja, Ino eventually joined in as well. Over two years later, Sakura and Ino both took part in the Fourth Shinobi World War. They reassured each other multiple times on the battlefield. Two years after that, Sakura opened up a clinic and Ino eventually joined to help her. They were later on a mission and Ino was very upset with Sakura was captured but she eventually escaped. After the mission was over, Sakura encouraged Ino to go have lunch with Sai because she liked him.

In the Konoha Hiden novel, Sakura and Ino’s teamwork is stated to be so good it resembles that of two lovers.

Common Tropes in Fanworks

• InoSaku is sometimes the main ship in Sakura-centric fanfic.

Example Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• Several prompt fills, ^{Archived version} by Mag for 15hugs
• Inevitable by BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse
• Cosmosby SandstoneSunspear
• sugar by moonvalentine
• At dawnby youte
• The Promise of a Leafby Krokador

Fanart

• SakuIno - Hokage!Sakura with right hand woman Ino, ^{Archived version} - An AU in which Sakura becomes Hokage, and Ino is her lover.
• sakuino doodle i did in my lunch break, ^{Archived version} by spidertams
• some silly Late Night Lesbeens SakuIno, ^{Archived version} by linning-04, 2020 (or earlier)

Fanvids

• [InoSaku] Love Stolen from Usby kesidiii
• A thousand years - InoSaku.by monarockit
• InoSaku - Things I'll Never Sayby kesidiii2

Meta

• I Won't Lose To You: Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, ^{Archived version} an essay by Chiya, written for the Ship Manifesto community

Archives and Communities

• SakuraxIno community on Livejournal
• Ino-Pig x Forehead Girl community on Livejournal
• Ino x Sakura Love community on Deviantart
• SakuIno FC community on Deviantart
• SakuIno a fanfiction community on FF.net

Other Fannish Resources

• Haruno Sakura/Ino Yamanaka tag at Archive of Our Own
• [Ino Y., Sakura H.] pairing filter at FanFiction.Net