Naraku's barrier

Naraku's Barrier (奈落の結界, Naraku no Kekkai) is the power of antagonist of series. Naraku get this barrier to hide and protect themselves against more powerful attacks of his enemies and boosts throughout history. Some of his incarnations, Infant, Hakudōshi and Byakuya, they inherited the protective barrier, being born after the creation of it. Those that have been created before, like Kagura and Kanna, are not able to use this power.

Synopsis
There was a total of three types of barriers created by Naraku, one used for hiding and two others to defend himself and repel attacks. The use of a protective barrier from the demon and his subordinates became a crucial mechanic for continuing the story, especially after the creation of the last barrier that proved to be a major obstacle for Inuyasha, Sesshōmaru and Kōga. However, none of these barriers proved to be 100% invulnerable, as the characters found new methods to break his barriers as time went on.

Barrier of Castle
Initially, Naraku uses a huge barrier that completely covers his castle, the purpose of this barrier is not protect against attacks but to hide his demonic aura, his scent and probably also the presence of shards of the Shikon no Tama. Being a half-demon Naraku also has a day in which he loses all powers, however, in contrast to Inuyasha, he can choose the day and take advantage of this opportunity to recreate his body and discard the unnecessary parts. Just such an occasion dims the strength of the barrier allowing Kagura to leave the castle and at the same time to feel jaki and smell from Kōga and Inuyasha.

This barrier is used for the last time in the clash at the castle against Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha. However towards the end of the manga, when Naraku takes hostage Kagome Higurashi to get the last shard, he says that was hidden behind a barrier to remain unseen by the girl (Kagome's powers were reduced by Magatsuhi).


 * It is large inside and there may also be other people.
 * Can be easily broken by Red Tessaiga of Inuyasha, in fact in the clash at the castle with Sesshōmaru before its temporary disappearance, Inuyasha creates a hole in the barrier coming confrontation.
 * Does not it is known if it were also able to withstand powerful attacks.

Protective Barrier
Naraku shows for the first time this new barrier, designed not to hide, but to defend against powerful attacks. In the clash with Muso (Onigumo), after having devoured, Naraku is attacked by Inuyasha with the Kaze no Kizu but the barrier is totally immune to the attack seeming unbreakable. This scares a lot of the half-demon so that after the battle goes in search of a solution; wets the sword of the blood of a "bat yōkai" capable of creating powerful barriers, thus becoming capable of destroying almost all of them.

Kagura kidnap Rin Naraku and decreases the power of the first barrier, attracting Sesshōmaru, to be able to absorb, Inuyasha comes into conflict with his new power, Naraku then erects its powerful barrier, secure that could not be broken, so the hanyō unleashes Red Tessaiga and destroys it by breaking down the enemy.

Naraku will never make more use of this barrier because it will create a new much more powerful.


 * It is able to endure powerful attacks, even the Wind Scar of Tessaiga.
 * It is much smaller than the first and there may be other people inside.
 * Can be destroyed by the Red Tessaiga.

Upgraded Protective Barrier
This third and final barrier is shaped by Naraku at Mount Hakurei, thanks to the powers of the (still incomplete) Jewel in his possession along with his reformed body. Inuyasha's group clashes with Naraku inside the mountain where, once his body is put together again, he erects the new barrier. In the anime, Inuyasha hits him first with a Sankon Tessō (or Iron Claws) without success, then tries again with the Kaze no Kizu but the barrier will not be brought down like the previous one. Plus, the barrier displays a new power - that of turning the energy of the enemy's attack back to them. Naraku uses this ability firstly against Inuyasha, turning the Kaze no Kizu against his group, and then against Sesshōmaru, who was waiting for him outside Mount Hakurei. Sesshōmaru, however, was able to overcome the kenatsu energy of Tokijin and launch a new attack against Naraku.

This barrier's power can also be used by all of the detachments Naraku created after coming out of Mount Hakurei, namely the Infant, Hakudōshi, and Byakuya of Mirages, though the latter only demonstrates that ability in the manga.

In the clash with Hakudōshi it turns out that even Red Tessaiga's power has no effect on this new barrier. However, it is not indestructible. In the same battle, Kikyo brings it down with one of her sacred arrows, which was mingled with ground from the cave where Kikyo nursed Onigumo. The ground is suffused with the passion Onigumo felt for Kikyo, and she discovers those emotions can work to undermine Naraku's power and aggression towards her.

During the battle in the Inu no Taishō's tomb, Inuyasha and his group are faced with Naraku. Both Kagome's purifying arrows, Tessaiga's Bakuryuha and Sesshōmaru's Tokijin prove ineffective against Naraku's protection. It's only the diamond spears of the great demon Hosenki that are able to pass through the barrier and hurt Naraku's body. This ability is voluntarily transferred to Tessaiga by Hosenki, and Inuyasha uses it to launch a decisive blow against Naraku, defeating him with some contribution from Sesshōmaru and Kikyo's arrow, shot by Kagome, which, like the previous one, was treated with soil from Onigumo's cave.

The combined powers of the demon brothers Ginka and Kinka also prove effective against the barrier when they face off with Mōryōmaru in the manga. The lightning and the fire they produced passed to the insides of Mōryōmaru's body, using his tentacles as a conduit when he was trying to absorb them, and eventually they manage to bring down the barrier that the Infant put on around himself, endangering his life. Mōryōmaru did manage to absorb one of the brothers, Ginka. However, Mōryōmaru is forced to give up on him as even inside his body, Ginka's power was resonating with Kinka's flames, and since Kinka was absorbed by Tessaiga, there was a danger that every time Tessaiga used its flaming powers on Mōryōmaru, the barrier shielding the Infant inside him would be brought down.

A third demon is shown to have the power to pass through Naraku's barrier: the demon tree Yōmeiju. This creature feeds on both humans and demons, and for this purpose it has developed tendrils that melt down demonic barriers. It is shown tying Naraku up through his barrier, though Naraku turns the table on the demon tree and absorbs it just as it was preparing to devour him. He does so in order to dissolve the Infant's barrier and reclaim his heart. Naraku succeeds in his plan, absorbing both the Infant and his Mōryōmaru puppet.



Just as Naraku is done absorbing Mōryōmaru, Kōga, who is located inside his body, tries to attack the Infant, i.e. Naraku's heart. Though there's danger of Kōga being dissolved by shōki, he's protected by the spirits of his wolf demon ancestors, who received a boost from Kagome's arrow. He uses the Goraishi against the Infant, however he is still encircled by the barrier, and Kōga's attack can't bring it down.

When a new Hiraikotsu is forged for Sango thanks to the demon sage Yakurōdokusen, her weapon appears to have become able to cross the of Naraku's barrier by wrapping itself in a powerful poison that dissolves demonic energy. This can be seen in the final battle where Sango crosses its barrier destroying his body. In the same battle, the barrier proves ineffective against Kagome's sacred arrow thanks to a teleporting technique she learned from the battle against a powerful priestess named Hitomiko, whose body was manipulated by Naraku after her death. The technique allows her to bring up the arrow directly at the target (this is just the technique that ultimately kills Naraku), thus making the barrier useless against Inuyasha's crew. By the time of the last battle, Inuyasha himself could break Naraku's barrier with the Kongosoha, and in any case he could throw it into hell with the Meido Zangetsuha together with the barrier, though it should be noticed that Naraku was protected several times from the Meido technique by the Jewel's own insistence on clinging to this world, using Naraku's body as its instrument. It is precisely at this point that Naraku uses the power of Jewel creating the final pitch black body, from here on the barrier no longer appears, a sign that it was no longer useful.

In the last season of the anime (The Final Act), when Naraku kidnaps Kagome, Inuyasha inexplicably destroys the barrier of Naraku using the Red Tessaiga, which is not feasible since this power had no effect on the last barrier of the demon. This is probably an oversight of the producers of the cartoon since the scene was different in the manga, Inuyasha in fact does not use the Red Tessaiga and is the same Naraku to remove its barrier to show his enemies that they could not hit the Jewel, being protected by the armor of Meiōjū.


 * It is oval dimension slightly smaller than the previous one.
 * Inside, there may be other people.
 * The owner of the barrier can cross it from the inside, but unlike strangers who can not, as it happens with Kagura.
 * It is immune to frontal attacks and powerful energy as: Sankon Tessō, Kaze no Kizu, Red Tessaiga and Bakuryuha of Inuyasha, Sesshōmaru's Tokijin attacks, Sango's Hiraikotsu (before being reforged), at normal arrows purifying of Kagome and Kikyo, Princess Abi's flames, Kagura's Wind Blades, Kōga's attacks, including Goraishi, and many others.
 * Can reject various energy attacks like Kaze no Kizu, Kenatsu of Tokijin, Kagura's Wind Blades and Goryōmaru's Jars.
 * Can be damaged by the combined attacks of Kinka and Ginka and from Dragon-Scaled Tessaiga.
 * Can be destroyed or crossed by diamond chips of Kongosoha by an arrow imbued with sacred burial ground of Onigumo shot by Kikyo or Kagome, and Sango new Hiraikotsu.
 * This can be overcome by an arrow from Kagome with the ability to Hitomiko.
 * It is known if it was able to resist the attack of Bakusaiga, Sesshōmaru's new sword.

Naraku and Hakudōshi
Naraku and Hakudōshi are connected through their barrier, this will bring several benefits that the half-demon will use several times, and always with this apparently can control the movement of Hakudōshi, in fact when Kagura hits the kid, Naraku immediately tightens his heart. In two occasions, however, Naraku use the connection to "teleport" in the Hakudōshi's barrier; the first in the tomb of the father of Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru where escaped to certain death. The second time, in the Rock Ogre's stomach, where Naraku traps his enemies.

Finally it will use the connection for the last time just to get rid of Hakudōshi who along with Kagura and Mōryōmaru (Infant) had tried to betray him, in fact Naraku removes the barrier to Hakudōshi so that succumbs under the blows of Tessaiga and invokes Saimyōshō (poisonous insects) allowing Miroku to suck into the Kazaana.