Ino Hiroshi

Ino Hiroshi (イノ博, Hiroshi Ino), who is known otherwise as Ino Shiba (イノ芝, Shiba Ino), is a Tsuji of the Ryū Order as well as the wife of Kenji. She is also the Captain of the Ryū Order's 2nd Division, with Zero Ukitake as her Lieutenant. Ino lost her life during the Collapse alongside her twin sons Hotaru and Akira, and was survived by her husband, eldest son, and only daughter.

Appearance
Ino is a blond-haired girl with amber eyes who is roughly the same height as Kenji, though her eyes turn blue whilst her Zanpakutō is released. During typical days she normally wears casual tops of various design with a pair of blue denim jeans, but during battle she normally dons typical Shinigami attire accentuated with a hood. However by far Ino's most donned outfit is the uniform she dons upon release of her Zanpakutō's Shikai; Ino dons a smoking (it is literally smoldering) off-the-shoulder red-coloured dress with a knee-length split on the right-hand side, red bodice that appears to be on fire, and a long ash-like cape that trails out behind which sets alight all in her path.

Personality
Although a patient woman most of the time who usually has a long fuse, a long time traveling with Kenji and Kusaka have eroded whatever claim she had to patience, particularly when those two are concerned. She once questioned if Kenji had grasped the concept of time after showing up to a date with her late, and proceeded to punch Kenji after his smart comeback. However, that same day, she also demonstrated just how calm and clear-headed she is; especially when compared against her frequent companions. When Tsubaki, who was acting under the orders of the Illusive Man, came hoping to capture Kenji she selflessly teleported him away at the expense of her own safety because the enemy was showing more interest in Kenji. Not only did this serve to protect Kenji it also served to deny their opponents what they sought, demonstrating that Ino thinks with the long-term in-mind. She later stated that she sent Kenji away because she knew he would come and rescue them eventually; she even sent him to the Visored suspecting that they would give him aid because of their prior history.

Prior to the First Spiritual War Ino was the serious one in Kenji's core group of allies. She repeatedly admonished Kenji for his child-like habits, which was a trait she also extended towards Shiju Shūdō. She callously remarked to both that only men can wage war and that all she seen before her where children, though she later admitted she may have been hasty in her judgement.

Motherhood has done much to calm Ino; to the point that she rarely bats an eyelid anymore even when her friends disturb everyone and everything around them with their childish antics. When Averian made his return after supposedly being killed by Kusaka she reacted the most coolly of all assembled, despite the fact she had almost been killed by the in the past. Her protectiveness of her children was also naturally strong. When Kenjiro, who was actually her husbands manifested Inner Hollow, began masquerading as Kenji himself Ino stepped forward to prevent him harming her children; despite the fact she was fooled by the impostor and thought it was Kenji himself.

Synopsis

 * Main Article: Bleach (Kenji Hiroshi).

Tsuji Crisis arc

 * Darkest Pursuits
 * Darkest Worlds
 * Embracing the Dark: Kenji's Vengeance
 * Into the Light

Kagamino City arc

 * Fun in Atlantic City
 * The Two Idiot Pupils

Post-Fullbringer Incident

 * Post-Fullbringer Incident Part I

Introduction Arc

 * Averian Strikes Back: Kentaro attacks Kenji!?

Cat and Mouse arc

 * Planning for the Future

Dragonforce arc

 * Foreign Trip

Final Clash arc

 * Liberation Saga

Interquel Chapters

 * Magical Collision, Order and Chaos
 * Answers to Questions Asked

Impostor arc

 * Kenji gone Mad?

Second Coming of Averian arc

 * Return of the Legend

Specials

 * Drinking Time With Kenji & Van: Episode 2: Teaching Zanjutsu
 * Easter Special! An Egg hunt with Kenji and Van!

Powers and Abilities
Kidō Grandmastery: Ino was easily one of the foremost practitioners of Kidō during her lifetime. She was capable of employing both standard and forbidden spells, seemingly without effort or incantation, and retain much of the spell's power. Ino was also capable of bypassing the barriers utilized by Hachi, which was demonstrated when she transported Kenji to the Visored's hideout in without alerting anyone to the presence of the compound itself. In battle she combined numerous spells with her to create drastically more powerful effects, whilst employing powerful pre-set wards to protect herself from harm.

Zanjutsu Expertise: Ino possessed enough skill in Zanjutsu to manifest and master her. While her skills paled in comparison to Kenji and Kusaka she was a formidable adherent to defensive forms of swordplay. She utilized a fast-paced defensively focused style that enabled her to wait-out an opponent and open them up to a Kidō-based reprisal.

Hohō Mastery: Ino was trained extensively in high-speed movement techniques by Garian. She explains that, in the beginning, she was required to outpace her opposition or attack from stealth or ambush. This was due to the lengthy incantations inherent to Kidō-based combat. Even before becoming a Captain in the Ryū Order she was capable of keeping pace with a number of Captain-class combatants; this includes Kenji, Van and Kusaka.

Zanpakutō
Sode no Retsujitsu (袖烈日, Sleeved Blazing Sun). Ino's Zanpakutō takes the form of a standard with light blue hilt wrapping, a white sheath and a circular guard.


 * : Ino releases her Zanpakutō with the command "Illuminate" (照らす, terasu; lit. To Illuminate).


 * Shikai Special Ability: Ino runs her hand along the blade's length whilst declaring the release command, which causes the edge to disperse into a stream of super-heated ash. Ino controls the ash remotely using the hilt of her Zanpakutō which remains in her hand. At any time she can reconstitute the sealed blade to engage in proper swordplay. Unlike, which is a Zanpakutō with a similar effect and appearance wielded by , the ash conjured by Sode no Retsujitsu does not cut. The ash conjured by her Shikai is highly combustible; one speck of ash is capable of producing an explosion that can level a two-story building, meaning several specks together could lay an entire city-block to waste. Ino detonates the ash by snapping her fingers. She tends to direct with her right hand and detonate with her left. Kenji claims that inhalation of the ash can prove to be fatal.


 * Haikōto Kidō (灰コート鬼道, Ash-coated Demon Way): a personal technique unique to Ino that incorporates the explosive abilities of her Shikai into various Kidō spells. She claims this method of combat is particularly effective when combined with Bakudō (縛道, Way of Binding) spells, and admits to having modified every spell she knows in this manner; including Hadō (破道, Way of Destruction) spells. Her preferred spells are:


 * Haikōto Hainawa (灰コート 這縄, Ash-coated Crawling Rope): a spell that immobilizes a target's arms with a crackling yellow rope, which winds around the target's body. Once bound Ino, using her Shikai, proceeds to detonate the ash embedded within at close-range.


 * Haikōto Enkōsen (灰コート 円閘扇, Ash-coated Round Lock Fan): a spell which produces an oval-shaped shield to block attacks. When used by Ino the shield detonates outward along the trajectory of the foes attack.


 * Haikōto Hyapporankan (灰コート 百歩欄干, Ash-coated Hundred Steps Fence): a spell which takes the form of a glowing rod of light, which is hurled at the target. This rod then multiplies into one-hundred rods, immobilizing the target, before detonating. Ino claims that, when combined with her Shikai, Hyapporankan has more destructive power than most high-level Hadō.


 * Haikōto Tozanshō (灰コート 倒山晶, Ash-coated Inverse Mountain Crystal): a spell which produces an inverted pyramid suspended in the air from four points, with the target trapped inside. This essentially creates a tomb. Once trapped Ino proceeds to detonate the ash within. Due to the confined nature imposed on the foe by the pyramid the resultant explosion is far more powerful.


 * : Not revealed.

Students
Ino, unlike her husband, was very selective in regards to the potential students she would tutor. While she did teach an advanced Kidō class at the Yuengiri Academy she only took on three students whom she devoted large quantities of her time towards. The first was her own son, the second was Karis Nishiki, and the third was Ayumi Satonaka. All three of the aforementioned inherited her unique, personal and advanced techniques. Kazuma Nishiki later claimed he learned advanced reiatsu control from Ino but claimed that was as far as her teaching stretched.