Shinoe was born in a small tobacco farming Island called Moon Scar that was part of the Skovos Islands of Shippugakure, a land that suffered from pirates. In this 'war' of sorts, one of the the worst pirate of them all was Suitomo Hozuki who possessed powerful water jutsu called Hydrification. Every islander knew of this power and the man that possessed it. The man was wealthy, powerful and could get any woman he wanted whether the woman wanted him or not. One of those women was Shinoe's mother, who then became pregnant and quickly married one of the well to-do tobacco farmers, to cover up questions about the child's father.
Shinoe's father and mother were simple farmers, and they lived a peaceful life even with the occasional pirate activity. They loved each other, and were kind to their child. Unfortunately, this would all change because her mother hid Shinoe's real parentage from her husband, hoping that the love and peace that was shared in their small family would last forever. One day, Shinoe discovered the ability to transform into water. Amazed by this, Shinoe proudly showed this to her mother, who was horrified by what she saw. She harshly scolded and slapped Shinoe for displaying her ability, though she tearfully apologized to her afterwards.

Unbeknownst to them, Shinoe's father had seen everything from the shadows. When her father discovered that his daughter possessed the power of Hydrification, he assembled a small mob of villagers and confronted his wife who was walking along the beach with Shinoe. With tears flowing down her eyes, she explained that she was raped by Suitomo just before they were wed. When asked whether she would stand against them, she protested and tried to make her husband and the other villagers understand that it wasn't Shinoe's fault who her father was. But he wouldn't listen and stabbed his wife in the gut before pushing her out of the way and then attempting to kill Shinoe. But before he could, Shinoe used her water jutsu on instinct, using the water of the ocean to drown the mob and her parents.

Horrified by her father's actions as well as her own, Shinoe dropped to her knees and cradled her mother, who still clung to life. On her dying breath she begged Shinoe to run from this place and never look back, assuring her that she always loved her no matter who her father was. Shinoe then stole a boat and floated out to sea when a storm caught her  and she washed upon the shore of a pirate hideout on Shogun Shoto, where Suitomo found her. He was checking over her body for any valuable goods but found none and was going to leave her for dead when she woke up and upon seeing someone immediately lashed out using her water jutsu. This impressed and surprised the Captain, liking the intensity of her eyes, he told her that he would train her to be a ninja. Shinoe had no where else to go so agreed.

It started with basic strength training, running to do errands and so forth as she was still young. As time progressed she learned who her 'savior' was. The man responsible for her village turning on her and killing her mother. Her birth father, the notorious pirate. But she never spoke about him being her father and he never asked about her past. She lived in the cove hideout with the rest of his crew while they were off duty. They hid out in the hidden cove on Shogun Shoto while the Navy exhausted their resources searching for them before the hype blew over and they could leave again. But occasionally Suitomo needed a softer hand to deal with the more delicate operations of his business. And that was what he trained Shinoe to do, teaching her ninjutsu and taijutsu as well as how to be stealthy, quick and agile. She had to fight occasionally against those who would get in the way of her mission, usually other thugs or pirates, but mainly against Suitomo during their spars, which only grew harder as she aged.

As every year passed, Shinoe wished that she could gain revenge against him somehow, but knew she didn't have the power or skill to attempt to kill him herself and didn't know of any other way to get back at him. That was until shortly after she had turned fifteen when the Shippugakure navy stealth force caught her on one of her missions for her father one night. They held her and told her to tell them where Suitomo's base of operations was and she realized that this was her chance. She explained that she would be willing to tell them the location and even more as long as they promised to let her go once she had told all. They almost didn't believe her but seeing her resolve changed her mind and they also assured her safe passage out of the country, which was more than enough of a bargain for her. She confessed to many crimes, how she had come about meeting Suitomo, who he was to her, all of the missions he had sent her on, what she knew about how his operation ran as well as the names and descriptions of every crew member that she could remember besides the location of the cove. Immediately after, they sent her with an operative to the harbor to leave on a ship bound for Tsukigakure along with purse of ryo to ensure passage and living means once she docked.

On the boat ride there, she spent the majority of the time simply thinking. About how she had wasted eight years with a man she despised and how he would finally be brought to justice, probably at that moment. Then she began worrying. What if the navy let him slip away? He always seemed to be able to get away. He would know, or find out that she had been the one to betray him. Could he find her? Would he kill her? What would she do, where would she go when reached Tsukigakure? After a while longer of pondering she resolved to join the ninja corps of the Hidden Moon as a Genin so that she could get stronger and prepare for when Suitomo would come for her if he was still alive...and kill him. That was when it was announced that they had reached the Death Country, so with her renewed purpose she stepped off of the ship.

She met a varied group of people nearly the second she arrived at the port. One of them being Eden Shinteki, a Jounin at the time. He showed her around Tsuki as well as put in a good word for her to enter the village's ninja program. He even took the time to train her in the art of taijutsu and nintaijutsu. It wasn't long after that when she came across a mysterious masked man from Hyougagakure that was a Suiton user like her. She ran into him a few more times and he also offered her training, in Suiton ninjutsu. He never revealed his face or name though. But the most unusual encounter of all was running into Saizo. A Chuunin from Shippuugakure that was also a Hozuki like her. She was sure that he was there to kill her or worse, drag her back to her father, but he too was avoiding their pirate heritage. She helped him through Nox forest and in exchange he taught her a ninjutsu called 'Rasengan'.

After they parted ways, Saizo kept in touch with her, albeit sporadically. She was amazed to learn that he had been chosen to succeed the old Umikage and thus he become Shippugakure's new Kage. Sure she was a little jealous, but she was proud as well. She had aspired to the position herself, but she felt that it was in good hands. Maybe she could relieve him of his position when he tired of it. This gave her the drive she needed to properly utilize all of the training she had gained to finally pass the exams and attain the rank of Chuunin.