Shinzo Hinato

"Mark my words, Damoclus. I will slay you first, then take every ounce of your power that you have... so that I may enslave all those worthless enough to deserve such a fate!"

- Shinzo's quote in Final Boss cutscene Shinzo Hinato is an ruthless Sengoku general and the official pre-order character of Bellum Bestiae.

Appearance
A late-40s East Asian man with a dark grey beard and a black and gold naginata with a silver blade strapped to his back. He wears a faded red-colored, short-sleeve longcoat, as well as some pieces of traditional Japanese armor of the same color with some gold, with a black undershirt.

Bellum Bestiae
Shinzo is a feared and ruthless Sengoku general, infamous throughout Japan for raiding villages, murdering innocents, and other atrocities, occasionally ordering his men to carry out such misdeeds for him. He wishes to take over his land as both emperor and shogun and enslave many of its people, but cannot do that without slaying Damoclus and taking his power for himself.

Bestiae Strength
As the general of Sengoku like shogun, Shinzo have improved strength and use his weapon Naginata to push away and stab some opponents. Also using his animal spirit scorpion to be true warrior.

Ars Specialis

 * Senpuu (Whirlwind): Shinzo stands there, faces the camera, and rapidly twirls his naginata 1080° clockwise in front of him, dealing three hits total. Meter Burn adds two more spins for five hits total. (Match Win Finish Animation: V-Bisected)
 * Sengoku Ikari (Sengoku Wrath): Shinzo swings his naginata horizontally to the right once, left once, then right again at his opponent in rapid succession, walking towards them as he does so, for three hits total. On Meter Burn, he slams the naginata down on his opponent after the third hit, causing a hard knockdown. (Match Win Finish Animation: Decapitated)
 * Mujihina Kushizashi (Ruthless Skewer): Shinzo raises his naginata above his head and thrusts it deep into his opponent's chest, impaling them, then slashes horizontally to the other side, causing them to slip off the blade quickly. Meter Burn makes him stab deeper with his weapon still in the opponent, dealing more damage. (Match Win Finish Animation: Bleed Out)
 * Roku Ippen Tachikata (Six-Piece Cutter): Shinzo slashes his opponent twice diagonally, once to the left and once to the right, then zips past them with a horizontal slash. Meter Burn adds a second left diagonal slash for four hits total. (Match Win Finish Animation: V-Bisected)

Ars Bestiae

 * Sasori no Sasu (Scorpion's Sting): Shinzo thrusts his naginata forwards, which becomes a forward stinger thrust at his opponent, changing into his scorpion halfway through, then becomes his human form again. (Match Win Finish Animation: Bleed Out)
 * Nijuu no Tsume (Double Claw): Shinzo transforms into his scorpion form, stands there, and pinches his opponent with both of his large, razor-sharp pincers at the same time before changing back to human form. (Match Win Finish Animation: H-Bisected)

Percute Ultimum
Shinzo slashes downwards at his opponent's ankles, slicing off both their feet, which then slide off-screen. The losing character then falls backwards onto the arena floor, landing on their palms to support themselves. As they plead for mercy, Shinzo, naginata in both hands, raises it above his head and thrusts it into the foe's chest, turning into his scorpion form halfway through. Stinger still embedded in the opponent's chest, he uses his pincers to grab their shins, which bleed out where their feet used to be, tugs and pulls on them with the stinger for two seconds until he graphically tears off their torso. He then proceeds to change back to human form and swing horizontally with his naginata, causing the disembodied upper half of the defeated opponent to slip off quickly and disappear off-screen. If performed on Masaru, he will say, "You fornicated with my daughter inside my house...", thrusting the blade end of his naginata into the ground with the farmer's disembodied upper body still impaled on it, "and paid the price for it!" If performed on Karasu, he will disappointedly say, "Such a failure of a daughter..." while flinging her disembodied upper body off the blade.
 * Pre-Percute Ultimum pose: Raises his naginata in the air, lets out a mighty shout, then slams the butt of the weapon down on the ground
 * Pre-Percute Ultimum strike: Slashes diagonally with his naginata

Prologue
The Sengoku period, or "Age of Warring States," of Japan was a time of nearly-constant military conflict, as well as social and political instability. Shinzo Hinato is one of the most feared and ruthless generals of the era. Not willing to stand for her husband's unnecessary cruelty, his wife, Noriko, committed suicide, thus leaving Shinzo to raise their daughter, Ayumi, who would later come to be known as Karasu, alone.

In acknowledgement of the general's ruthlessness, the scorpion spirit, Scorpius, appeared to him and selected him as his physical host. Shinzo now seeks to bring widespread fear and chaos throughout Japan by taking over as both emperor and shogun and stripping the land's populace of their free will, and so sets out to slay Damoclus, the demon lord of Infernus, and take as much of his demonic energy as necessary for such an endeavor.

Ending
Shinzo had defeated Damoclus; however, being the ruthless, malevolent, and cruel individual that he was, he had no intention of saving the world, nor all the lands, from his coming reign of chaos. He mercilessly slew the demon lord and absorbed all of his demonic energy, becoming so much more powerful than he was before that he desired to subjugate his homeland and its denizens.

With that in mind, Shinzo used his newfound power not only to take over all of Japan, but also enslave its people and merge the entirety of the land with Infernus. The Sengoku general having become an abusive tyrant as a result of taking over as both emperor and shogun, his own daughter and Masaru, reunited as lovers, are now more determined than ever to put an end to his dictatorial reign and restore Japan to normal before it is too late.

Bellum Bestiae

 * Intro Sequence: Shinzo crawls into the arena in his scorpion form, then changes back to human form, slowly removes his naginata from its support on his back, and readies the weapon, declaring, "You are of little importance. Shinu (die)!", before going into his fighting stance.
 * Round Win Sequence: Shinzo holds his naginata at his side and looks down at his opponent, saying, "I would not deem you worthy of my trust," then goes into his fighting stance again.
 * Outro Sequence: Shinzo walks over to his defeated opponent and raises his naginata above them, then, just as he is about to impale them in the chest, the camera cuts away from the losing character to focus on a waist-up, low-angle shot of the Sengoku general, who, naginata still in hand, declares, "Baka (fool)... Never challenge me at my own game again!"

Did You Know?

 * His Destined Battle and Final Boss Battle cutscenes reveals him to have been the one responsible for setting fire to the residence of and killing Masaru's biological parents.
 * Don't worry, people, Shinzo's Quest Mode ending, which has some Bad Guy Wins, including the historically-inaccurate deaths of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara AKA Katsuhito and shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane, going on, isn't canon because Karasu kills him in her ending, thus preventing him from ever appearing in BBII at all.