Hanzo Hattori/Story

He is the mightiest of the Iga ninja, employed under the Tokugawa shogunate. Leading his band of ninja, he specializes in assassination attacks against their enemies. For instance, in Samurai Shodown V, Hanzo is given the task to execute the traitor to Yoshitora Tokugawa's father. In Samurai Shodown, he discovers his son, Shinzo, exhibiting mysterious mannerisms due to Shiro Tokisada Amakusa's possession. He fights to save his son but only succeeds in recovering Shinzo's body.

Shortly after recovering his son's body, Hanzo accepts a mission to investigate and slay "The Demon," who committed a series of massacres three years ago and now kills samurai and swordsman. Hanzo, however, has a dim inkling of his true identity and wonders if it's an old friend. In Samurai Shodown IV he receives secret orders from the Shogunate, which has determined the Dark Castle's return is the cause of worldwide calamities, they order Hanzo to destroy the "Dark Castle."

Eventually, Hanzo learns that Shinzo's soul is still in the demon world so he sets out with his wife and his second son, Kanzo, to retrieve it. In his ending to Samurai Shodown II, they succeed but Kaede sacrifices herself to unite her son's soul to his body. Despite the hardship, he continues to serve his lord with his sons by his side. In Samurai Shodown 64 there was an investigation revolving around abductions of unborn children throughout the land, Hanzo receives a confidential message relating the strange behavior of a certain clan's leader. During his investigations, he realizes a mysterious puppet master is involved in both incidents. Hanzo pursues the enigmatic puppeteer who perhaps holds the key to these strange events.

Around 20 years before Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage, Hanzo beat Oboro in a duel which lead to Oboro being forced to leave his clan.