Shin

is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Background
One of many nameless orphans recruited into Konoha's secret branch of the ANBU, Root, Shin, like Sai was raised and conditioned to have no personality, emotions or personal connections. It is unknown if Shin is his actual real name due to the heavy use of codenames in the ANBU Root Division.

Shin and Sai met during their training in Root. Shin took a liking to Sai's drawing ability, and Sai came to think of him as a older brother (possibly due to Shin supposedly being a stronger ninja than Sai) and looked up to him. Eventually, Shin died of an unnamed illness, and Sai's Root training suppressed most of the memories he had for him. Before Shin's death, Sai was in the process of drawing a picture book that would show the feelings they shared for each other and all the opponents they faced.Until on a mission with Naruto, Sakura and Yamato, Sai had never been able to finish the middle pages of the book until he felt a happy emotion while talking to Naruto. Their pictures would start at opposite ends of the book and in the middle both Shin and Sai would be holding hands, but Shin died before he could give it to him.

It is still uncertain what really happened to Shin, Yamato accused Sai of killing his brother in some kind of Root initiation ceremony much like that of Kirigakure's old Academy graduation test. Sai denies this, although there has never been any real proof to what happened to Shin.

Personality
Shin has been described by Sai to be very much like Naruto, even though Root members are trained to have suppressed emotions.

Abilities
His abilities are mostly unknown, but Shin has been shown in the anime as being stronger than Sai and the top performer in Sai's Root training class.