Shizune

A fair-skinned woman of middling height and slim frame, Shizune has jet-black hair falling straight to her shoulders and onyx eyes, her bangs draped over the ears to frame the face. Day to day she wears a long, bluish-black kimono trimmed in white and cinched by a white obi, plus low-heeled open-toed sandals, and she notably goes without a forehead protector. Sent on missions, she dons the regular Konoha uniform and flak jacket, the sleeves cut unusually long, and she often pins her hair back while at work, a habit she shares with Sakura. Come the Fourth Shinobi World War, the sleeves shorten and she adds the Allied headband along with a rank band on her right arm. Years later, light creases mark the corners of her eyes, and she takes to a black, one-sleeved kimono over exposed mesh armour.

Level-headed and practical, Shizune is the rational one who sweats the details, above all Tsunade's habit of gambling money away and then borrowing still more. Her master's reckless calls send her into comically anxious fits, and a long-running gag has her loosing an exaggerated shriek of terror whenever she is shouted at, usually by Tsunade, or startled by something frightening. Gentle and composed most of the time, she also tends to Tonton, Tsunade's pet pig, but she turns fierce, even ruthless, the instant anyone insults or threatens her mentor. Nor will she stay silent about a decision she dislikes, once warning the Konoha Council that a mission Tsunade planned would put Naruto in real danger.

Her ethics run deep. She begged Tsunade to turn down Orochimaru's bargain to resurrect Dan and Nawaki, sure the two would never wish to return at the price of innocent lives, and she was ready to back Jiraiya in killing Tsunade to keep her from accepting. She takes the medic's calling seriously, which left her scornful of Kido Tsumiki for pushing profitable prescriptions on traumatised children over cheaper, effective care. Energetic and tireless as the Hokage's assistant, she constantly nudges Tsunade to clear the paperwork before it mounts. Drink, meanwhile, loosens her insecurities, and a tipsy Shizune frets over her figure and her still being single, envying Kurenai's fuller bust and romance with Asuma.

Dan Katō, a celebrated shinobi of the Leaf, was Shizune's uncle. After he died she departed the village at the side of his lover Tsunade, serving as attendant and apprentice and growing into her most gifted medical pupil, the standard Sakura Haruno would later be held against. Fine chakra control lets her manage the most delicate medical ninjutsu, from directing a team to regrow a body with new cells to cutting a live explosive out of a man's chest under enormous strain. Her fighting style centres on poison: she breathes a lethal mist and coats her senbon and kunai in a paralysing toxin, launching them from her mouth or a hidden wrist device. She also commands shadow clones and sealing techniques, and her sharp mind flagged the black receivers buried in one of Pain's bodies as well as the shared DNA linking the First Hokage to the White Zetsu Army.

When Orochimaru came to Tsunade seeking to have his arms healed, Shizune stood against Kabuto Yakushi to shield her master, and she returned to Konoha once Tsunade took up the mantle of Fifth Hokage. She headed squads during the hunt to recover Sasuke, and when Pain struck the village she was tasked with examining the captured Animal Path; there she found the black receivers, only to be seized by the Human Path, which read Naruto's location at Mount Myōboku from her thoughts and ripped out her soul, killing her. Pain's own rebirth technique later brought her back. Across the war years she led the Allied Shinobi Forces' Logistical Support and Medical Division, treating scores of wounded and helping lay bare the secret of the White Zetsu clones. She fell with everyone else to the Infinite Tsukuyomi and was freed only when Naruto and Sasuke closed out the war. Afterward she went on serving as assistant to the Hokage under Kakashi and then Naruto, and offered gentle reassurance to Sarada Uchiha when the girl began to question her own parentage.