#btbverse

Hello there, Anon!

Firstly, super sorry for the late reply. *facepalm* It’s taking me some time to get around to my responses. No kidding, right?  Anyway! I hope this message finds you well during these messed up times.

Ino’s mother! Thankfully I did my research at the time to discover she did indeed have a mother ( Naruto Shippūden Episode #281 ). Though I don’t recall her name ever being dropped, hence taking the creative leeway to name her Sayuri. Here’s her pic pulled from Narutopedia.

I thank you for your interest in the BtB-verse character development with Sayuri. Not much is given about her in canon and for BtB purposes, especially with Ino’s behaviours and issues, I felt it was important to give her some kind of dysfunctional backstory even if it didn’t make it fully into the series.

can you tell us anything more about her?

Sure thing. BtB Sayuri...where to start?

Inoichi met her undercover at a geisha tea-house and Okiya where Sayuri worked during her youth.

From a wealthy family originally, she was indentured into service as a teen (her father gambled away their family’s wealth) and spent those formative years in a highly superficial, cattish, competitive and somewhat vindictive environment in the Okiya (the lodging house/drinking establishment to which a maiko or geisha is affiliated with during her career)

The mother of the house (the "okā-san") who mentored and groomed Sayuri was highly critical and insisted upon stringent rules for all the girls; upon which Sayuri developed several dysfunctional relationships with women, food, men etc that later were inevitably projected onto Ino.

Sayuri loves flowers and among her peers she excelled in ikebana; her love of flowers was one of the many things that Inoichi used to woo her upon visiting the tea-house she worked at (and entertained clients)

Inoichi eventually bought her freedom; something she was both grateful and ashamed of.

She changed shortly into their marriage, seizing back some power by pulling an ice queen aura around herself -- a defense mechanism, as well as a means to forget about her past and carry on as if she’d never been ‘sold’ into service by her family.

She does not speak of her family (mother or father) and has no family outside of the Yamanaka clan -- one of the reasons she became so attached to Naoki

She has an ingrained and unshakeable fear that Inoichi will abandon her (as many ‘patrons’ did back when they promised her the moon and stars -- and more importantly, her freedom as a young woman)

In the past she competed for Inoichi’s attention with her daughter -- a tragic projection of her days in the Okiya...she fortunately changed her ways after the events in UtS

Inoichi’s death has been devastating for her and, like Ino, she isn’t handling it in the most healthiest of ways

Sayuri loves to dance and is a very talented musician. It was one of the many things Inoichi loved about her.

Inoichi taught her some basic ninja training, which she took to quite well -- even using it to defend herself against handsy clients before Inoichi took her away from that life and brought her to Konoha

She shuns the company of other women, due to her painful experiences as a teen, using her Ice Queen persona to keep people at arm’s length -- which is tragic, because beneath all that, she has the capacity for great tenderness inside her...which she exhibited especially when Ino was a baby.

Early in their marriage she used to sing to Inoichi often, as well as dance and play the shamisen for him...this changed shortly after, as she tried to distance herself from what she considered a shameful and painful past.

Her attempts to “mould” Ino into a lady and secure her daughter a match were her misguided attempts to ensure Ino never had to worry about her security later in life.

Sayuri loves honey but her disordered eating often had her shunning anything sweet -- which is what led to Inoichi often sneaking out to chow down on desserts....inadvertently leading to Sayuri to accuse him of having affairs....(little did she know these secret loves were forbidden confectionery!)

She does not particularly like the colour pink, though she took great pleasure in dressing Ino up as a child

She disapproves of immodest dressing (hence her clashing with Ino on many occasions)

She regrets many things about how her marriage went and it pains her she won’t have the chance to do things over again

Anoooon!! 😆

[...] does Genma have a crush on Kurenai?

That’d be Genma’s reaction to that question... but I can do you one better with a definitive YES. A wee bit more than a crush.

Did Asuma know?

No. Thank goodness. Else he might’ve showed up at Genma’s all....