Hideyoshi Iwatsu
From Valiant Entertainment - The Book Of The Geomancer
| |
| Hideyoshi Iwatsu | |
|---|---|
| Attribution | |
| Full Name: |
Hideyoshi Iwatsu |
| Occupation: |
Yakuza Mobster |
| Citizenship: |
Japanese |
| Known Relatives: |
|
| Affiliation: | |
| Powers: |
(as a Speedshot) Nanite-enhanced blood |
Hideyoshi Iwatsu is a man whose search for immortality leads him to develop Project Rising Spirit, a process that infuses a man with nanites that enhance his physical attributes and bestow him with longevity.
Hope & Glory
In the 1950’s Hideyoshi Iwatsu, a Japanese industrialist who had been in seclusion for years, revived the Nazi Germany Para-human program, Schwarz Tod ("Black Death"), under the name of Project Rising Spirit.
Hideyoshi owned Mushashi Chemical, a front for the project’s experiments. As a response to the revitalized program, the British Crown gave the go-ahead to Project Hope and Glory, a series of experiments that affected Colin King, Goro Sanada and Jillian Alcott.
In 1959, Hideyoshi had three Ronin ninja bodyguards called Shishi even though he had been in seclusion for years. Dressed in ninja garb that allowed him to access Hideyoshi’s properties, British Intelligence Field Agent Captain Jonathan King broke into Hideyoshi’s stronghold, and when security spotted him, they assumed he was one of the Shishi. After Jonathan infiltrated Mushashi Chemical, he discovered the corpses of the first victims of Project Rising Spirit.
While King searched for evidence against Hideyoshi, Iwatsu’s bodyguards captured him and severed his hand with a katana, which prompted Jonathan’s son, Colin, who had secretly tailed his father, to reveal himself, and Hideyoshi recognized aloud his good fortune of avoiding the task of hunting him down to eliminate him. As Jonathan revealed the secret of Colin’s origin, he touched Hideyoshi and Iwatsu’s bodyguards killed him for touching their master. During the melee, Colin escaped.
Elsewhere, Goro, who Iwatsu referred to as “Number Seven” due to his destined position as his next bodyguard, rebelled against his fate and tried to escape, but he was discovered, beaten and forcibly returned to Hideyoshi, who revealed the location of Colin King to him.
In 1979, Hideyoshi, afraid that Colin would kill him, agreed to allow him to leave Japan while his mother remained behind as a hostage guarantee for the rest of her days.
In 1988, Hideyoshi agreed to release Colin’s mother if Colin would infiltrate Webnet and destroyed its databanks before he lost his enterprise to Augustus Silkowski. Colin agreed, and the exploit marked his first appearance as Ninjak.
Empirical Dynasty
Sick in his old age, Hideyoshi was forced to undergo the process himself and became a Speedshot, a nanite-enhanced warrior with a short life span.
Rampage
Though Hideyoshi succumbed to the Speedshot's burn out, Tanaka placed his body in a cryogenic tank in the hope that he could revive him someday, but, unfortunately, the Secret Weapons destroyed the tank and brought an end to Hideyoshi's life.
