Ino's speed had always been quite high, and one could even say it was her strong suit.
The original Ino had never really trained seriously, her mind filled with thoughts of Prince Charming or her best friend, and it was unclear what she was thinking about day in and day out.
After Ino crossed over, her training in speed was only average, yet she could hold her own against Uchiha Sasuke, who had been diligently training with Tenten, in close combat. What does this indicate? It shows that this body's inherent speed was naturally fast.
The 5 points in "Speed" were mostly innate attributes, a treasure bestowed upon her descendants by the ancestor of the Mountain Bandit King. Indeed, we don't have a Kekkei Genkai, but we are naturally fast! In times of chaos, the Nara Clan has their wisdom, the Akimichi Clan members look harmless, and the Yamanaka Clan has survived to this day because of their speed! Isn't that right? The title of Yamanaka Boar wasn't earned for nothing!
Ino estimated that if she trained seriously for some time, with the lightness of a woman combined with the genetic gift, her speed could increase to 6 or even 7.
In the future, she would definitely need to raise her "Speed" to 10, but the timing of this allocation was crucial.
Unless one was a dead person, no matter how fast you ran, you couldn't escape the Infinite Tsukuyomi. You couldn't just run all the way to the moon, could you? Let's not dwell on that.
When Pain came to Konoha, she could run in advance. Seeing him float into the sky, she shouldn't listen to his nonsense and just run! There was a 60-70% chance she could escape.
Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha wasn't actually dangerous; in fact, it was quite safe. Many of Konoha's top-tier fighters didn't even move much during that battle.
Might Guy wanted to support the Third Hokage, but Kakashi held him back, saying, "We must believe in the Third Hokage." As a result, two Kage-level fighters stood back-to-back, casually exchanging blows with a few Sound Ninja grunts, watching as the Third Hokage used the Reaper Death Seal.
The fifteenth generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation also made a brief appearance during the later stages of the Konoha destruction plan. These three experienced Jonin, relying on their Clan Secret Techniques and seamless coordination, managed to tangle with a few Sunagakure soldiers for a long time, resulting in a stalemate. Can you believe it?
The rest, including the Hyuga Clan, the Aburame Clan, and even Danzo's Root ninjas, barely moved. The Konoha destruction plan seemed more like a solo act between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage. Ino figured she would follow the spirit of the fifteenth generation Ino-Shika-Cho, teaming up with Shikamaru and Choji to casually engage a few grunts, and that would count as participating in the battle.
"Speed" was important, but it wasn't a must-have attribute at this stage. She just needed to max it out before Pain arrived.
Her body had already entered puberty, and her strength, constitution, and speed were all improving slightly every day. Using Pot Points to enhance these attributes now would be a bit of a waste.
A "Chakra" level of 6 was barely sufficient. Kakashi had 6 points, and Asuma, she remembered, had 7. In this battle, if she hadn't been backstabbed by Indra Chakra, her Chakra would have been more than enough. Drinking potions at home, combined with the natural growth during puberty, she felt her "Chakra" could still increase a bit on its own.
"Speed" and "Chakra" weren't urgent priorities at the moment.
"Water Release" was currently at level 1, and with more practice, it could be raised another level, but this wasn't urgent either.
The maximum value for basic attributes is 10 points, while the maximum level for Release Techniques is level 5.
Level 1 corresponds to a Low Ninja, level 2 to a Middle Ninja, level 3 to a Special Jonin, level 4 to a Jonin, and level 5 to a Shadow of Fire. To advance from level 2 to level 3 requires 2 Pot Points, from level 3 to level 4 requires 3, and from level 4 to level 5 requires 4. If Ino were to max out her "Ninjutsu," "Chakra," and "Seal" attributes to 10 and raise her "Water Release" to level 5, the power of her Water Release would likely rival that of the Second Hokage. Of course, this comparison only applies to Water Release. The Second Hokage practiced Water Release primarily to counter the Fire Release of the Uchiha Clan, and in battle, he mainly relied on the Flying Thunder God Technique to eliminate his enemies.
Advancing "Yin Release" from level 2 to level 3 requires 2 Pot Points, and raising "Ninjutsu" from 7 to 8 also requires 2 Pot Points. Ino weighed her options between these two choices.
"Yin Release" and spiritual energy are directly related to the success rate of her clan's Secret Techniques, the Mind Confusion Technique and the subsequent Mind Transfer Technique. In her view, the Mind Confusion Technique, which uses her own spiritual energy to interfere with, modify, and long-term influence the will of a powerful being, is already comparable to Kotoamatsukami.
Kotoamatsukami is a Mangekyō Sharingan ocular technique that requires an immense amount of spiritual energy and has an extremely long cooldown after use. The Mind Confusion Technique similarly demands an astonishing amount of spiritual energy, and 99.9% of the Yamanaka Clan members never reach this level of proficiency.
Ino had "seen" the intensity of Indra Chakra, and to be honest, she felt that even if she trained hard in Yin Release and maxed it out to level 5, the accumulated spiritual energy would still fall short of what was needed to perform the Mind Confusion Technique. Humans have their limits—how could a person possibly control a god? Was she supposed to say to Inoichi, "Dad, I'm not human anymore!"
It seemed that the method of finding a close friend and then killing them to gain a massive surge of spiritual energy was the only way out.
Ino didn't want to turn herself into a lunatic, so she thought of relying on ninja techniques instead.
She set her sights on Kato Dan's "Spiritual Transformation Technique." This technique should significantly boost spiritual energy and align perfectly with the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Techniques. However, Kato Dan had been dead for many years, and as his clan's secret technique, the Spiritual Transformation Technique was not recorded in the village. To learn this technique, she would have to find a way through Tsunade and Shizune.
If Tsunade and Shizune didn't have the Spiritual Transformation Technique, she would have to resort to the most troublesome method: trying Edo Tensei to summon Kato Dan and have him teach her personally. After careful consideration, Ino allocated her two Pot Points to the "Ninjutsu" attribute. The two Pot Points merged into a powerful energy, raising her "Ninjutsu" from 7 to 8.
In just an instant, she felt her understanding of ninja techniques, her inspiration when learning them, and the power when executing them had all improved to varying degrees.
During her previous battle with Sasuke, the reason her Water Disruption Wave briefly suppressed his Great Fireball Technique wasn't just due to elemental advantage—Ino's "Ninjutsu" being higher than Sasuke's was also a key factor.
Now that her "Ninjutsu" had increased from 7 to 8, if Sasuke were to use the Great Fireball Technique on her again, her Water Disruption Wave would instantly suppress it.
A "Ninjutsu" level of 8 is already quite high in the ninja world. Yakushi Kabuto, who hadn't left Konoha, was roughly at this level.
After adding the points, she felt she had some new ideas about the ninja techniques she had already mastered. At her current level, learning even the jonin-level techniques would be effortless. She planned to find an opportunity to discuss with Inoichi about learning the Shadow Clone Technique.
She didn't need to create too many shadow clones—four would be enough. One could practice body techniques, one could focus on secret techniques and Yin Release, one could train in Water Release, and one could practice hand seals. Her weaknesses would soon be addressed.