Hinata Sakaguchi

Hinata Sakaguchi (坂口日向) is the leader of the Western Saints Church's Ten Great Saints.

Personality
She looks ruthless at first glance, she even gives off the strong impression of being a coldblooded murderer. However, for those who rely on her, she lends them a helping hand. She is willing to give anyone advice who asks her, however if that advice is ignored, then she'll never give advice to that same person again.

Hinata is a pragmatist who doesn't shy away from cooperating with anyone as long as it benefits mankind. As long as this condition is fulfilled, she doesn't even shy away from serving a Demon Lord who controls the Western Saints Church from the shadows.

Hinata holds Shizue in high regards, due that she was the one who trained her. After learning of her death, Hinata is out to get Rimuru, believing he had killed Shizue. Going so far as to tell him that she’s going to destroy Rimuru City, despite not knowing the full story.

Appearance
Hinata has glossy, shoulder-length black hair. She often sweeps her bangs over her right eye while tucking the left side behind her ear.

She usually wears the Holy Knights armor, which is an armor with a white coat draped over it, as well as a monocle.

Her eyes are described as looking like they are always just looking for the solution of some kind of mathematical proof.

Background
Hinata's father was a gambling addict. Eventually, her father racked up a massive debt from gambling on horse races. That spurred Hinata into action and caused her to murder her father for life insurance without being caught, as a result, he is believed to be missing. However, Hinata's mother then suffered from an emotional breakdown and became a cultist making Hinata willing to also kill her mother. Whilst she was still thinking about it, she was whisked away by a "strong gale" to the Otherworld. This happened on the first day of high school on her way home from the entrance ceremony, while she was passing by a shrine she used to visit frequently. She shut her eyes to the wind, but when she opened them again, there was an unfamiliar scenery before her. She was 15 when she was summoned. Upon arrival, she was attacked by three bandits. She ended up gaining two Unique Skills and managed to kill the three bandits.

Some time after her arrival in the new world, Shizue Izawa took her in as a disciple. Hinata claims that Shizue was the only person who had been kind to her during her early years in the new world. Within a month, Hinata had surpassed Shizue in strength. Hinata went on her own way and eventually became the Chief Knight of the Holy Ruberios Empire's Imperial Guard, as well as the Leader of the "Ten Great Saints".

At one point she discovered that the Western Saints Church was under the control of the "Vampire Princess", Demon Lord Luminous Valentine. She beat the Demon Lord's servant and finally confronted the Demon Lord herself. However, Hinata lost the battle. After some negotiations, Hinata agreed to become Luminous' vassal as she deemed the Demon Lord's governing methods to be acceptable in the big picture. Nonetheless she keeps honing her abilities regardless in case she ever needs to fight the Vampire Princess again.

Plot
Hinata is first seen when a servant requests an audience to inform her that the demon slime Rimuru was building a nation of monsters in the middle of the Great Jura Forest. She quickly assesses the threat level and decides that Rimuru and his country needs to be destroyed. She contemplates about her past after which she decides to kill the monster who killed Shizue, the one person she respected.

Etymology

 * The name Hinata means "sunny place" (日向).
 * Hinata's surname Sakaguchi means "slope, hill" (坂) (saka) and "mouth, entrance" (口) (kuchi/guchi).

Trivia

 * Hinata is one of the characters who have changed the most between the Web Novel version and the Canon version. For example, Hinata willingly cooperates with Luminous Valentine even before Rimuru's reincarnation and she also isn't mind controlled in the Canon version.
 * Despite being in the first season's first opening “Nameless story”, Hinata doesn’t appear in the first season. She’s mentioned by Shizu in Inherited Will, but she makes her first appearance/cameo near the end of the Saved Souls.