Shinko and her family moved to Konoha when she was nine. However, she retained her foreign accent, making her easily identifiable that she wasn't native to Konoha.
At graduation, Shinko was placed on Team 2 under Yūki Minazuki's leadership alongside Itachi Uchiha and Tenma Izumo, much to the latter's annoyance. During their time together, Shinko tried to stop Tenma from competing with Itachi as she slowly realised Tenma would never be able to outdo Itachi's skill.
Thanks to Itachi's skill, Team 2 was given the ceremonial honour of being the Fire Daimyō's guard during his annual trip to Konoha. During the trip, a masked man attacked the caravan, placing all but Itachi and Tenma in a genjutsu. When she awoke, she found that Tenma was brutally killed. Exposed to the realisation of the horrors of the shinobi way of life, Shinko decided to quit and find civilian work, which was safer.
When Itachi became a chūnin, he and Izumi Uchiha visited the tea shop where she worked at and she waited on them. While she playfully teased Itachi about his girlfriend, she admitted she quit her shinobi job because not only was Tenma killed, but because Itachi was so much more skilled than her and even younger than her, making it seem redundant to be a shinobi when Itachi was one. After Itachi pressured Izumi to follow Shinko's example, only to cause her to run away crying, Shinko chastised Itachi for making his girlfriend cry and belittling her goals.
