Naraku

"I have often heard you humans refer to this as fate or destiny. Only the weak utter such nonsense. It is different for the truly powerful: they create this so-called destiny with their own hands."

- Naraku

was the main antagonist of the entire series, until in the last Episode. He was directly responsible for the death of the character Kikyō and the seal placed on the series' protagonist, Inuyasha. He was also the cause of most of the problems and struggles facing the other major characters, making his destruction the main focus of their quest due to the pain he has personally caused them.

As half-demon and later a demon, Naraku desired the Shikon-no-Tama (also known as the Jewel of Four Souls in the English version), a jewel that would be able to grant him near-invincibility should he acquire all the pieces of it. Although early in the series he desired the jewel to purge his half-human self from his body, he also sought the jewel to enhance his strength even further. He is repeatedly opposed by Inuyasha and his friends, along with several other characters in the series.

Onigumo
Once, there was a man named Onigumo, who was full of deceit and hatred for others. The manga tells us almost nothing about his life before he meets the protagonists, but the anime adaptation shows him in a flashback associated with a group of roaming thieves. It tells how he tricked his bandit leader, Rasetsu (the elderly man in the anime who gives Kikyō his top knot to be sent to Mount Hakurei in order to purify his soul) into approaching Kikyō and attempt to obtain the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls; however, Onigumo did not warn him that there was a half-demon named Inuyasha keeping a watchful eye over the priestess. Rasetsu survived the encounter with Inuyasha, lost an eye, and returned to his camp only to find that Onigumo had made off with his troops. Rasetsu discovered Onigumo and his troops at an inn down the road celebrating their change in leadership. Enraged, Rasetsu blew up the inn, but the charred body of Onigumo somehow managed to survive the blast. Rasetsu then threw the barely-living Onigumo off a cliff. (This, however, does not explain his spider scar, as Onigumo had the scar before he met Rasetsu).

By either chance or fate, the badly burned Onigumo was found by Kikyō, who slowly nursed him back to the point of being able to speak. Onigumo developed feelings for Kikyō, but knowing that he could not move for the rest of his life, he summoned countless demons using his corrupted soul. He then had them devour his body in exchange for giving him a new body with which he could claim Kikyō and the Jewel of Four Souls. Thus the countless demons were bound together in one body with Onigumo serving as a connector.(In an anime special, it is implied that a spider demon, which looked like a small replica of Naraku's spider form in the second movie, was in fact the leader of these demons.) This resulted with Onigumo being reborn as the half-demon Naraku.

In the Beginning
Naraku's very first action after being born was to one of the two things Onigumo had wished for: To obtain the corrupted Shikon no Tama. However, Naraku had no desire to have Kikyō for his own, as Onigumo did. He disguised himself as both Inuyasha and Kikyō and tricked them into hating each other, as he describes that "the Shikon Jewel is the most beautiful when it's tainted by the hatred Kikyō and Inuyasha have toward each other."

He mortally wounded Kikyō while disguised as Inuyasha, took the Shikon no Tama and returned it to the village, then disguised himself as Kikyō and attacked Inuyasha. Inuyasha, sensing something was wrong, instinctively went back to the village to retrieve the Jewel. However, Naraku disguised as Kikyō, told the villagers that Inuyasha would come for the Shikon no Tama at any cost, thereby forcing Inuyasha to use force to obtain the Jewel. As he was getting away with the Jewel, Kikyō, with her remaining strength, sealed Inuyasha to the Tree of Ages. Naraku, who desired both the Jewel of Four Souls and Kikyō, thought that she would use the Jewel to heal herself, but he miscalculated as she instead requested Kaede to cremate the Jewel along with her dying body, so that it would be taken to the afterlife with her.

Onigumo's soul, within Naraku, objected to Kikyō's death as it was not his desire, but that of the demons who created Naraku. At this time, Naraku took action to prevent Onigumo from consciously influencing the half-demon's actions. Onigumo perceived this process as imprisonment in a deep dark place where he proceeded to sleep. This most likely meant Onigumo was locked deep into Naraku's subconscious.

For fifty years after Kikyō's death, Naraku secretly plotted and waited for the Shikon Jewel to appear again. During this time, he made an enemy of monk Miyatsu, and cursed his family lineage with the Wind Tunnel; Naraku did so simply to ensure Miyastu's bloodline would suffer for eternity. He also had his first encounter with Bankotsu, informing him of his patience in waiting for Shikon Jewel's reappearance. 35 years after Kikyō's death, Naraku had heard of a child priestess named Hitomiko whose powers rivaled Kikyō's own; he attempted to kill her, but was driven off by her spiritual power.

Being a half-demon like Inuyasha, Naraku also sometimes experiences a period of weakness. During those times, he loses all his demon powers and reverts to his "human" form. While in this form, he is composed of his head attached to countless random demon parts. Naraku has the freedom of choosing this time, unlike Inuyasha, due to having been created by a merging of a human and several demons; since he is made up of thousands of demon, each time he "experiments" and "reconstructs" his body, getting rid of weak and useless parts while keeping the vital ones to get stronger. It is possible that during each of these periods he expelled more and more of his humanity. .

Battling Inuyasha's group
For some time after the Shikon Jewel was shattered into hundreds of shards, Naraku had gathered most of them; however, for some reason he did not attempt to fuse them together. Nararku eventually learned that Inuyasha had been released from his seal and now journeyed together with Miyatsu's grandson, Miroku; he also feared the terrible blade, Tessaiga.

Knowing he stood no chance against Inuyasha, Naraku encounter the half demon's older half brother, Sesshōmaru; Sesshōmaru had lost his left arm in a fight with Inuyasha by this point. Naraku offered a human arm with a Shikon Jewel shard embedded in it to allow the mighty demon to steal Tessaiga from Inuyasha and use it to kill him. Knowing how bothersome the Wind Tunnel would prove. Naraku also gifted Sesshōmaru with a Saimyōshō hive to poison the monk. The attempt ended in failure, but Naraku regained his jewel shard. However, as an unwanted bonus, Naraku became the focus of Sesshōmaru's anger.

He later embedded two jewel shards in Rōyakan, forcing him to attack the injured Inuyasha and steal his jewel shards. However, Inuyasha easily defeated him and, to Naraku's surprise, pull a woman that looked like Kikyō out of the Bone Eater's Well  Kagome quickly discovered where he was hiding because of all the jewel shards he had, leading to the first confrontation between Inuyasha and himself. Naraku revealed that he had been born of Onigumo, and attempted to flee using a Cloud of Destruction. However, Inuyasha survived it and managed to cut off his hoari, revealing a spider-shaped scar on his back. This would be Naraku's calling card.

Posing as Kagewaki Hitomi while using a puppet to pose as himself as an adviser well-versed about demons, Naraku lured the best of the Demon Slayers from their village to leave it vulnerable to demons wishing for revenge. Naraku made a boy named Kohaku slay his father and comrades, while injuring his sister, Sango; the guards killed Kohaku. Naraku had the slayers buried in the garden, but found Sango was still alive. At the same time, his demon puppet visited Sango's village swallowing demons fighting over the shards the slayers had collected and taking the jewel shards to Naraku himself. Lying that Inuyasha had attacked the village, Naraku sent Sango after him with his demon puppet, allowing her the use of a jewel shard to relieve her of pain caused by her injuries. The attempt was almost successful until his demon puppet was tricked into revealing the truth; the Saimyōshō retrieved his shard while the puppet was destroyed.

He later resurrected Kohaku with a jewel shard and complied with the boy's wish to forget the horrible deeds he was forced to make, leaving the boy's heart empty, ready to be filled with whatever Naraku desired. He attempted to bargain with Sango, promising her Kohaku in exchange for Tessaiga. Sango complied, returning to the castle and destroying his baboon pelt, revealing his disguise as Kagewaki Hitomi. Naraku poisoned Sango and her companion Kirara, siccing Kohaku on them to finish the job. However, Naraku's plan was thwarted by the arrival of Inuyasha and the others. He attempted to poison them all to death, but Kagome purified his miasma and destroyed all but his head with a sacred arrow. Forced to leave, Naraku took the castle with him, but lost Kohaku in the process.

Left with only a sham of a body, Naraku locked various demons in a mountain, where they would fight to the death and the winner would absorb all the others' parts for himself; Nraku would swallow the winner to regain a body. During this time, the Hitomi clan sought out a priestess rumored to save even those near death to cure "Kagewaki's" illness. To Naraku's surprise, he discovered it was a resurrected Kikyō; he had her detained in the dungeon, but she escaped. Naraku waited for his spell to be broken and was amazed Kikyō broke it instead of killing the Kodoku. Regaining a true body, Naraku found Kikyō and kidnapped her, taking her back to his castle and erecting a barrier to keep out Soul Collectors.

Kikyō revealed she knew who he was, and Naraku was left amused; he let in a single soul collector and infused the soul it carried with a Shikon shard. He bid Kikyō to kill Kagome if she wished to remain in the world of the living. Leaving a puppet in charge of her, Naraku cast the spell of Illusionary Death on a forest while disguising his Saimyōshō as Kikyō's soul collectors, luring Inuyasha's group into his trap. Kikyō destroyed his puppet, blinding Naraku to the events unfolding in the forest. He became shocked that Kikyō returned and gave him Kagome's shards; she taunted him with the knowledge that he wants to become a full demon as he is only half. Naraku vowed to kill Kikyō the moment he does.

Multiple Narakus
With Kagome's shards in his possession, Naraku fused them with his shards, leaving all but six shards to be put in. Using the nearly restored jewel's magic, Naraku gained the ability to create incarnations of himself from his body. He first created a demon that represented Void, and named her Kanna; Naraku gifted her with a mirror made of his own body, which could swallow souls, reflect attacks and become a walking voodoo doll that could copy enemy powers. As Kanna was unfit for combat uses, Naraku created his second detachment, the wind sorceress, Kagura. Naraku removed the hearts of both his incarnations, so that he may squeeze them to death if they disobey him.

Naraku first sent Kagura to attack the wolf demon tribe members lured to one of his phantom castles due to a rumor of jewel shards; he planned to use Kōga, the leader of the wolf demons, to kill Inuyasha. However, his plan backfired when Kagura revealed the truth after Inuyasha was knocked out; he was able to gauge the strength of the Wind Scar due to her surviving an attack from it. Kagura attacked him in anger, making Naraku squeeze her heart as punishment.

He next sent both Kanna and Kagura to attack Inuyasha, using villagers whose souls were sucked out by Kanna to attack Inuyasha while under the control of Kagura's Dance of the Dead. During this time, Naraku had Kanna try sucking out Kagome's soul; however, this proved impossible due to the sheer size of it being unable to fit in the mirror. Succeeding in having Kanna repel the Wind Scar back at Inuyasha, badly injuring him, Naraku made a personal appearance, showing his nearly complete Shikon jewel to his enemies. He gloated how Kikyō gave him the shards in possible attempt to have him kill Inuyasha for her; this news greatly disturbed Inuyasha. When Kanna was forced to release all the souls she captured, Naraku and his incarnations fled before Miroku had the chance to suck them into the Wind Tunnel.

He later created the mind-reading Goshinki, ordering him to attack a village to draw out the wounded Inuyasha; however, his incarnation was slaughtered the moment Inuyasha demon blood transformed him to save his life. Quite possibly, Naraku didn't know Goshinki's fangs were used to create Sesshōmaru's new blade, the Tōkijin.

Following Goshinki's death, Naraku created twin incarnations, Jūrōmaru and Kagerōmaru; however he couldn't control either of them. Kageromaru even tried to kill him upon birth by decapitation; however, much to Kagura's disappointment, it didn't work. As a result, he sealed Kagerōmaru inside Jūrōmaru's gut with a mask and shackled the mindless beast Jūrōmaru. Sending his demon puppet out with his incarnations in a cage, Naraku's puppet first met Kōga, who Naraku greeted formally due to it being their first meeting. After removing the seal on Jūrōmaru, Naraku's puppet was beheaded and he gloated that nothing could stop him now. However, just like Goshinki, both incarnations met their end.

Trying to Remove Weakness
Naraku remained unseen for awhile, most likely because he needed time to think of new plans. He usually paid visit to Kikyō, reasoning it was wise to keep an eye on her. However, she later revealed that he was concerned about her because of Onigumo's heart still lusting for her. Naraku, knowing he couldn't make a direct attack on her, created a giant soul collector to swallow all the dead souls in the land to leave Kikyō unable to move. However, this attempt was thwarted by Inuyasha, who slew Naraku's demon. Naraku watched the image of Inuyasha and Kikyō embracing in Kanna's mirror. Consumed by Onigumo's jealousy, Naraku used a sword to cut the skin of his back. A retainer saw this and Naraku slew him; Kagura questioned if he was losing his sanity, but he ordered her to clean up his mess instead.

Hearing of Ryūkotsusei, a powerful demon that was sealed long ago by Inuyasha's father, Naraku believed this demon could succeed where  Kanna, Kagura, Goshinki, Jūrōmaru and Kagerōmaru failed, and kill Inuyasha. Right before Inuyasha could piece the demon's heart to lighten Tessaiga, Naraku sent a demon puppet to burn away the claw sealing Ryūkotsusei with miasma. However, no sooner is the demon revived, it burns his puppet to a crisp, leaving Naraku unable to see the ensuing fight; he would later discover that his plan failed.

Curse of the Dark Priestess
Naraku sought out Tsubaki, a dark priestess who fought and lost to Kikyō 50 years ago, promising her the shikon jewel in exchange for cursing Kikyo's reincarnation, Kagome. Naraku sent a demon puppet to watch Tsubaki cast her curse, using Kagome's blood to taint the Shikon jewel, poisoning the two shards in the girl's possession and having them enter her neck. Though Kagome's will remained her own, Tsubaki had succeeded in gaining control of her body. Naraku had the devilish idea of making Inuyasha relive his worst nightmare: being killed by the woman he loves; if Inuyasha fled from Kagome, Naraku wanted her life snuffed out, but either result was favorable. However, Kikyō arrived at that moment and destroyed his demon puppet, leaving him unable to see the results of the battle.

He sends Kagura to retrieve the Shikon jewel from Tsubaki after she tricks The Red and White Priestesses into stalling Inuyasha's group. However, Kagura was more interested in Tsubaki's plan to use the Shikon jewel to revive the Giant Ogre of the Forbidden Tower and absorb it for the immense demonic energy the ogre possessed. When Tsubaki lost a second time to Inuyasha's group, Naraku had grown tired of waiting for the return of his property and had a Saimyōshō he implanted in Tsubaki's eye along with the jewel to retrieve it; Tsubaki aged to dust.

The Howling Wind of Betrayal
Some time afterwards, Naraku became careless about his miasma, allowing it to fill the inside of his barrier and kill the Hitomi clan retainers. During one of his periods of weakness, which Kagura didn't know about, she left the castle to attack Koga, who was nearing it due to the weakened barrier. She obtained his jewel shards, but decided to use them as a bribe to have Sesshōmaru kill him; he declined, saying to use them herself. Naraku knew Kagura had left, thanks to Kanna's mirror, but didn't know of this deal. He sent demons to rescue Kagura after Kōga regained his shards and Inuyasha sent the Wind Scar at her. The moment Kagura returned to the castle, Naraku had Kanna lead her down to the sub basement he was in; he pulled her down by force and revealed he knew she left the castle. Threatening to reabsorb her, Naraku gave Kagura one last chance to be obediant; he chained her up in the dungeon as punishment. However, Kagura decided not to tell him about Inuyasha becoming mortal on the Night of the New Moon.

Meeting Himself
Noticing that Onigumo was fighting to get free of his body, Naraku decided to grant his wish and cast him out as a lumo of purple flesh. Ironically, he tossed him out at the very spot he fell and became crippled at. Keeping watch on Onigumo with Kanna's mirror, Naraku watched as he pillaged villages and stole the face and name of a monk named Musō. When Inuyasha destroyed "Musō's"' arm, Naraku sent Saimyōshō to recreate it; however, Musō was felled by the Wind Scar, temporarily. Knowing that Onigumo may need to come back to him, Naraku released Kagura from her chains and order her to keep an eye on "Musō".

With Onigumo's heart gone, Naraku paid a visit to Kikyō and strangled her before gloating that he could do as he pleased. However, no sooner had he done this, Naraku saw his hand transform into another demons; he barely managed to force it back to normal. At this point, Naraku realized that it was "too soon" to spit out Onigumo's heart and went to retrieve it. Musō was angered by Naraku's presence, knowing he was the one who slaughtered Kikyō, the woman he wanted for himself. However, Naraku decided to play with his feelings by revealing Kikyo had been revived. He attempted absorb him, but was interrupted by Inuyasha's arrival. Naraku ordered Kagura to capture Musō, but Musō returned and impaled him as revenge. However, this was what Naraku wanted; he absorbed Musō from their connection, taking back his human heart.

Miroku questioned him about the time when his barrier became weak, prompting Naraku to reveal that like all half-demons, he has a point where he becomes human. Naraku revealed his special circumstances, annoying Inuyasha as now they have no way of finding a time of weakness. Inuyasha attempted killing him with the Wind Scar, but Naraku blocked with a barrier, which was far stronger than his previous one. Reminding them that he grows stronger, Naraku left with Kagura.

Vanishing Point: Naraku Disappears
Naraku has Kagura abduct Rin and place her in Kohaku's care outside his castle. Naraku then sends a demon puppet to invite Sesshōmaru to his castle. No sooner has Sesshōmaru destroyed his puppet, Naraku laughs that Sesshōmaru will come as he hates to have things belonging to him taken away. After purposely leaking his scent and lowering his barrier, Naraku appears before Sesshōmaru, revealing he simply wishes for Inuyasha's death. However, he knows Sesshōmaru came to kill him; gladly honoring the request, Naraku turns into patched-together demon made from others. Questioned if this form was the real him, Naraku reveals that his form is a work-in-progress. Kagura, watching from the sidelines, realizes he is trying to absorb Sesshōmaru for greater demonic power. When Inuyasha breaks into his barrier, Naraku sends Kagura and demons to fight him; however, he finds neither could stop him. This result forces him to swallow Sesshōmaru into his severed flesh.

However, Inuyasha arrives and breaks his personal barrier with the Red Tessaiga, something that wounds Naraku and leaves him surprised that Inuyasha has become stronger enough to break through his barriers. Trying to eat Inuyasha as well, Naraku only ends up further injured and Sesshōmaru is released. Both brothers injure further, forcing Naraku to flee from his castle. He then reveals why he abducted Rin: a means to keep Sesshōmaru from following after him. At that point, he orders Kohaku to kill Rin. However, Sesshōmaru prevents this and Kagura retrieves Kohaku; Naraku had ordered her to retrieve the shard from his corpse.

Disposal of His Human Heart
Naraku fled in the direction of the Ox-Tiger, deciding to hide in Mount Hakurei until he could recover and become stronger. Naraku tricked the lost soul of the priest Hakushin into creating a powerful, holy barrier around Mount Hakurei; this would prevent Inuyasha, Sesshōmaru and Kōga from coming after him.The closer Naraku's enemies came to the core of the barrier, the stronger it's effect was. The stronger a demon, the deeper into the barrier they could go until they got to a specific sort of critical point where anything with even the slightest bit of demon energy would be utterly purified. A resurrected person like Kikyo could not enter the barrier either, as it would try helping the souls within her ascend. Naraku himself hides within a cave inside the mountain which is not affected by the purifying barrier.

While he was reconstructing his body, he resurrected the Shichinintai to keep his enemies occupied; he promised Bankotsu that the second lives given to him and his comrades would be permanent if they could kill Inuyasha's group, Koga, and Sesshōmaru. As Kagura could not, Naraku had Kanna (who was unaffected by the barrier) and Kohaku relay his orders. He had his Demon Puppet run interference for the Shichinintai when they were ordered to retreat, leaving a clue for Inuyasha to lead him to the island Hakushin was once enshrined at, hoping the weaker barrier there would allow Bankotsu to kill his foe; however it failed.

Kikyō later helps Hakushin see through Naraku's deception and helps him ascend to Heaven, thus breaking the barrier and allowing Naraku's foul miasma to destroy Mount Hakurei's vegetation, while demons that were kept inside escape. Without the barrier to stop him, Naraku makes the mountain part of his body; he swallows Kōga into it, for the Shikon shard in his legs, and seals all the exists, trapping his enemies inside.

Separating himself from his heart, Naraku rendered it into two pieces. The physical heart (心臓, shinzou) he imparts to one of his incarnations, "The Infant", rendering Naraku effectively immortal unless the Infant is destroyed. The spiritual heart, or soul (心, 'kokoro'), which he inherited from the human Onigumo, is discarded inside Hakurei. Doing so, Naraku becomes stronger, much like a full demon. The increase of his demonic power also makes Naraku more arrogant; he doesn't formally address Sesshōmaru anymore. (Comments later made by Abi and Tekkei revealed that Naraku was still technically a half demon). He forces Kagura to take the Infant away from Mount Hakurei, entrusting the care of his heart to her.

Upon the deaths of all the Band of Seven, Naraku collects the jewel shards he gave them and steals Kagome's, uniting them into the nearly complete Shikon Jewel once more. With the jewel, Naraku constructs his new body, gaining a far more ominous appearance. Furthermore, his own personal barrier has become strong enough to resist the Red Tessaiga. He also gains the ability to trap attacks like the Wind Scar in the flow of his demonic energy until he decides to release it. When Kagome frees Kōga from the bottom of his barrier; Naraku planned to absorb Kōga along with his shards. Seeing that Inuyasha values his companions, Naraku begins destroying Mount Hakurei. He taunts them, saying sharing the same grave will be his one mercy to them.

Escaping to the outside, Naraku confronts Kikyō; she questions him as to what Kagura was escaping Mount Hakurei with, and why he would go to all the trouble of erecting a sacred barrier. He wounds Kikyō, revealing the reason he came to Mount Hakurei was to free himself of Onigumo's influence so that he can kill her. As a crevice of miasma opens, Naraku impales Kikyō, making fall into the river of miasma below. He asks if Kikyō understands why this is the new body he desired. Sesshōmaru arrives right afterward and Naraku offers him a free shot; a strike from Tōkijin reduces Naraku's body to shreds. However, he returns to force of the strike back at Sesshōmaru, forcing him to slice Naraku's head in half. Naraku gloats that he will never die and flees once more.

In Search of the Final Shikon Jewel Shard
Knowing that the Shikon jewel lacks all but four shards to complete it (one is in Kohaku, two are in Kōga's legs), Naraku seeks out Mimisenri, a demon with incredible hearing, to learn the location of the final shard. Learning that the shard was taken to the Borderland Between the Afterlife and the Land of the Living, Naraku tasks the Infant with looking into the souls of priests as they depart to the other side. During the skirmish, just as Naraku had planned, the Infant split apart; he sent the left half to Kanna, which (logically) had his/the Infant's heart in it, while Kagura was bossed around by the right half, which became Hakudōshi. He sent Hakudōshi and Kagura to the Land of Fire to observe if the Gate within the land could actually lead to the Afterlife; the plan backfired, one would need to be dead in order to pass or be turned to stone, then killed.

Seeing that he had no other option, Naraku sought out Princess Abi and her mother Tekkei, hoping that since they both originate from Hell itself, they can create a path to the Borderland for him to find the Shikon shard. He gives Abi a trident made of his bones that can erect a barrier and create miasma, in exchange for helping collect human blood to dilute the poison of a venomous demon Tekkei ingested. At the same time, he sent Kohaku and Kanna to a human castle to pass the Infant off as the newborn of the lord and lady. He then heard of Saint Hijiri, who could break even Hakudōshi's barrier; speculating that Kikyō had survived his attack, Naraku sought her out in a fruitless search. Eventually, Abi grew tired of Inuyasha's interference with blood collection, and turned against him, attacking the castle the Infant was in, thinking Naraku was there. Naraku recalled his minions, placing the Infant in Kanna's care. When Tekkei had recovered from ingesting all the human blood he helped collect, Naraku tricked her into swallowing him whole; he popped out of her head merely moments after Inuyasha's group arrived, killing her. Giving Abi a quick and painless death, Naraku then proceeded to decapitate Tekkei and release a torrent of blood, which lead him and Inuaysha's group to the Borderland.

Hiding within a pocket dimension, Naraku watched as Inuyasha's group met the Jewel demon, Hōsenki, who had taken the shard with him in death per its own request to prevent the Shikon Jewel from becoming whole. Using his corrupted Shikon Jewel, Naraku corrupted Hōsenki's shard, making him attack Inuyasha. After the demon was weakened enough, Naraku appeared before his enemies and claimed the shard. However, much to his surprise, Sesshōmaru had gotten to the Borderland, and began fighting him without regard for those who would die from his miasma. Much to his surprise, Naraku found himself impaled by Diamond Spears, which had been granted to Tessaiga by Hōsenki; lacking the strength to erect a barrier, Naraku was torn apart by the Azure Dragon Wave. Using Hakudōshi's barrier as a medium, Naraku began vanishing back to the World of the Living.

Trying to kill Kikyō, again
Upon his return to the living world, Naraku discovered an arrow fired by Kagome had pierced Hakudōshi and destroyed his barrier; only Kikyō possessed the spiritual power strong enough to break his barriers. Naraku became annoyed that his attack at Mount Hakurei hadn't been enough to finish her, sending Hakudoshi out to use whatever method neccassray to draw Kikyō out into the open. This lead to an endless stampede of demon rats. However, Kikyō had recovered enough to use a spell that would destroy the rats. Hakudoshi was sent to kill her, but only succeeded in destroying the maiyose tree used as a medium for the spell; she had already fled, and ended up destroying the shrine the rats came from.

Concerned that his life may be in danger if Kikyo ever discovered the Infant, which she knows houses his heart, Naraku decided to seek out the Nulling Stone, which was in the possession of Gakusanjin. This orb hides the demonic energy of its owner, thus it would effectively keep the Infant, who was being cared for by Kanna, safe from harm. On his way to gift the Fuyoheki to the Infant, Naraku noticed Kikyō's shikigami were getting close and appeared before her. He nearly succeeded in having her decapitated by Kohaku, but Inuyasha arrived and prevent his victory. Gifting the Nulling Stone to Infant, Naraku told him of how Gakusanjin used it, asking his heart how he would use it in his place.

Betrayal
As Kagura had grown tired of his rule, Naraku had Hakudōshi report to him on her behavior. When questioned as to why he let her live, Naraku explained to his incarnation that he held Kagura's heart in his hands; he could kill her anytime he wished, but he had a final task for her. Little did her know, Kagura had gifted Sesshōmaru and Kohaku, who was no longer under his spell, with shards of demonic energy that would lead them to the Fuyōheki. At the same time Hakudōshi and the Infant had grown tired of him as well and created a golem named Mōryōmaru to house the Infant, to give him proper mobility. Naraku tricked Kagura into leading Inuyasha's group to the stone ogre, where he made it come to life and try to digest them, hoping to only leave the shikon jewel shard behind. When Inuyasha tried empowering Tessaiga with the shard, Naraku corrupted it with the jewel's darkness, hoping that it would make Inuyasha kill his comrades; however, this didn't come to pass as Kagome purified Inuyasha and the shard, allowing them to escpe the stone ogre.

Some time after the Infant was placed in Mōryōmaru, Naraku trapped Moryomaru, in the form of Goryōmaru, in a cell, Naraku tasked Kagura with making sure he stayed inside; he'd kill her if she failed this time. Despite the warning, Naraku knew Hakudōshi coaxed Kagura into letting out his heart; they obtained the final shard from Inuyasha's group and where after Kohaku next. When Hakudōshi gloated that he couldn't be killed by anyone, Naraku disabled his barrier and allowed the Saimyōshō to abandoned him to the Wind Tunnel. He later appeared before Kagura, offering her heart back to her as a reward for helping eliminate Hakudōshi. No sooner had he returned it, Naraku injected shoki into Kagura so her freedom would be short-lived and painful. Little did he know, Kagura died happy, content to see Sesshōmaru one last time.

Following the death of Kagura in the manga, Naraku becomes largely absent from the series, and the focus shifts to Akago's and Mōryōmaru's quest to absorb demons and Shikon shards. He creates Byakuya of the Dreams during this time, meant to replace his four missing minions, Kagura, Hakudōshi, Kohaku, and the Infant; he tasks his new incarnation with keeping watch on the growing powers of both Moryomaru and InuYasha. Naraku tried taking Koga's shards by threatening the lives of his fellow Wolf demons, but lost a shard he had Byakuya lend to a young wolf demon they manipulated, to Moryomaru. Hearing of the new Dragon-scaled Tessaiga, Naraku wondered if the blade would end up destroying either InuYasha or Moryomaru first. In the manga, he has Kanna pretend she ran away from him, hoping the Infant would take his bait and have Moyromaru absorb the twin demons Ginka and Kinka.

Re-absorption of his own heart
Naraku eventualy revives a tree demon known as Yōmeiju, which had the power to break through barriers. devouring it. Shortly thereafter, he and Mōryōmaru squared off for the first time in an open battle. Naraku then reveals that the reason he created Akago as an infant and purposely made him so weak, while providing him with a powerful barrier, was because he always knew his heart would turn against him. Taunting Mōryōmaru about his shell, referring to it as a castle and to Akago as a king who has grown fat inside a castle, Naraku at first appeared to be trying to reabsorb him through failed attempts to break through his armor. But this clash ended with a shocking twist: Mōryōmaru absorbed his maker, supposedly defeating him for good.

When the Infant succeeds in capturing Koga in Moryomaru's diamond spike, Naraku reveals he's alive, having allowed Mōryōmaru to absorb him to eat him from the inside-out. Having gained control of Moryomaru, Naraku prevents the Infant from fleeing and uses Yōmeiju's barrier-dissolving abilities to wrap him in vines. Having fully assimulated Moryomaru into his body, Naraku shielded Akago with diamonds; however, Koga destroyed them, leaving Akago exposed. Miroku tried sucking Akago into the Wind Tunnel, but Naraku sent out miasma, poisoning the monk far more worse than in their initial encounters and leaving "miasma wounds" that nearly reached Miroku's heart. However, Naraku did lose something in this encounter; the Fuyōheki was sucked in, preventing him from hiding his demonic energy.

The re-absorption may mean that Naraku has lost the invulnerability he obtained from keeping his heart outside his body. However, the Shikon no Tama also allows it's possessor to survive otherwise fatal injuries. The diamonds on Naraku's new body, along with his armored shell, may also add some extra protection (due to the former being the hardest substance on the planet, and the latter easily able to swat off even the destructive brunt of the Kongōsōha).

Naraku noticed something strange at this time; Kikyo was there, and didn't so much as try fighting him, as though she was waiting for him to take Koga and Kohaku's shards. He realised Kikyo wished to purify his soul the very moment he completed the jewel. This left him with only one option to prevent himself from being purified.

What a Tangled Web We Weave
Left with no other option, Naraku returned to Mt. Hakurei to reabsorb the heart of Onigumo which he discarded there. Onigumo speaks to him, gloating that Naraku still needs this discarded human heart to avoid being purified by Kikyō, because of Onigumo's intense negative feelings; it now possesses more intense negative feelings, and these can prevent purification by bringing darkness to the Shikon Jewel. Naraku seems to confirm this analysis as his heart turned into a spider and burrowed into his body. He intends to exploit the emotional connection between the hearts of Onigumo, Kikyō and Inuyasha to destroy both Kikyō and Inuyasha.

With his heart completed once again, Naraku gains the ability to create spiders webs, which can easily grab anyone with the slightest bit of corruption in their hearts; he can also control corpses with his webs, trapping the spirit of the one the body belongs to in it. Only those with powerful spiritual powers can see his webs, such as Kagome and Kikyō; however, Naraku can make his webs visible any time he wishes. Setting a trap for Kikyō, Naraku succeeds in capturing her in his webs and hides Kikyō in a shrine; using the webs to corrupt her, Naraku caused the previous wound he inflicted on Kikyō to reopen and spread. Inuyasha and Kagome find her, and Naraku succeeds in corrupting Kagome's heart with jealousy by showing her the parting of Kikyō and Inuyasha 50 years ago. He decides to leave things be at that point as Kagome can no longer purify his miasma from inside Kikyo, meaning his most feared enemy will soon vanish from the World of the Living.

When Kagome is sent to Mount Azusa to retrieve a bow with spiritual powers strong enough to purify Kikyō, Naraku feels her come free of his webs; he knows Kikyo can be saved now. Rather than leave things to chance, he takes Kikyō hostage in his webs. He gloats she will die in the arms of the one she hates, no doubt something Onigumo's influence is making him do. When Kagome returns, she discovers the Shikon jewel in the adamant spike on his right arm; Kōga takes advantage of this knowledge to try purifying him and the jewel with his shards. However, the moment Koga tries touching the jewel, Naraku places it inside Kikyō while taking the wolf demon's shards for himself. Kagome shot Kikyō with her last sacred arrow to purify her, then Naraku used Koga's shards to corrupt the Jewel as Kikyō plans to purify the Jewel. But Naraku's evil overpowered Kikyō's holy aura and allowed him to reclaim the Jewel, leaving only Kohaku's shard. Wounded, Naraku fled to recover from Kikyo's attack; however, she was left on the brink of death and died soon after.

Trying to Remove Obstacles
Naraku then spent a long time recovering from Kikyo's attack on him, discovering that no matter how hard he tries, a speck of purity will not leave the Shikon Jewel. Even in death, Kikyo is proving to be bothersome to him. Deciding that he had enough trouble dealing with the purity inside the jewel, Naraku sent Byakuya to Kanna; he ordered Kanna to use her mirror to its fullest extent by summoning the Mirror Demon. It stole Tessaiga's powers, which were then used against Inuyasha himself. However, a heavy price was to be paid for this power; Kanna healed any injury the demon suffered by taking them herself. In the end, she lost her right arm and left hand, while Tessaiga got its powers back. Because Kanna would no longer be of any use to Naraku, being unable to hold her mirror again, Kagome told Kanna that she was free.

However, Naraku told Kanna that it wasn't over and that she was going to take Inuyasha's group with her to the afterlife. He crushed her heart, making Kanna and the Mirror Demon explode in an attempt to kill Inuyasha's group. However, no other casualties aside from Kanna occured. Naraku wondered to himself if Kanna was upset for not being able to kill his enemies, before thinking better of the idea as since she was an incarnation of the Void, she couldn't ahve any feelings. Little did he know, Kanna decided to betray him this one time and used a fragment of herself to tell Kagome the speck of light in the Shikon Jewel can kill him.

Learning Sesshomaru had left temporarily left Kohaku unguarded, Nararku went to retrieve the final shard from him; he ordered Byakuya of the Dreams to prevent anyone from coming to assist Kohaku. Attempting to take the shard from Kohaku's neck, Naraku became enveloped in blue flames as Kohaku fled with Jaken and Rin on A-Un. He realized the Kikyō's speck of light in the jewel was keeping him from touching the shard. Following after them, Naraku attempted to decapitate Kohaku so he could take his head and defile the shard at his leisure. Failing, he attempted to use his demonic energy to force Kohaku to behead himself; however, Sango arrived and tossed her restored Hiraikotsu at Naraku. Thinking it would be a fruitless effort, Naraku quickly discovered the weapon was different now as it shattered his body along with his demonic energy. Seeing he wasn't recovering, Naraku was forced to flee for his life.

Recovering, Naraku instructed Byakuya to give a memento of Kanna, a shard of the Mirror Demon, to Sesshōmaru, so he could use Tenseiga to steal Tessaiga's powers; though Sesshōmaru knew it was another trap, he sprang it willingly. Using Byakuya as a medium to see the fight between the two brothers, Naraku became amused when the Path to the Underworld opened and sucked Inuyasha in. However, when it seemed Inuyasha would be able to escape the Meidō, Naraku took control of Tenseiga through the shards of the mirror on it and hit Inuyasha with adamant spears coated with miasma. However, Sesshōmaru reclaimed his sword and Naraku allowed him to continue the fight. When Tenseiga broke, Naraku laughed that both his enemies would never return to the World of the Living. However, Inuyasha proved him wrong by bringing both himself and Sesshōmaru back.

He next went after Hitomiko, who he previously tried killing 15 years ago. Thanks to possessing the Shikon Jewel, he was able to weaken her to the point of dying. Using his spider webs, Naraku forced her spirit to linger in her corpse and ordered her to steal Kagome's spiritual power. Capturing Kagome, Naraku informed her of the spider he planted in Hitomiko's chest that will cause her to die a demon if shot by a sacred arrow; Kagome would become corrupt enough for Naraku to imprison her in his webs then. However, Kagome realized the important of her name and used the bow from Mount Azusa to land a hit on him, freeing Hitomiko's soul from his grasp and allowing her to pass on in peace, but not before warning Kagome that someone is sealing her true spiritual powers.

The Shikon Jewel's Completion and Death
Naraku informed Magatsuhi that if he remained still, Midoriko will gain control of the jewel and purify all the evil they worked hard to amass. Naraku donated some of his spare parts to the spirit of the demon, allowing him to craft a new body for himself. Magatsuhi is able to, in contrast to Naraku, not only touch the shard in Kohaku's back, but corrupt it as well. However, Naraku knows that the body he lent Magatsuhi was destroyed and predicts the devious spirit will amass demons as a distraction so he can possess Kohaku.

When this comes to pass, Naraku attempts to take the shard from Kohaku; however, Kikyō's light moves into the shard from the jewel, pushing out Magatsuhi and allowing a portion of him to be destroyed by Sesshomaru. Naraku captures Kagome, promising to let her go if Kohaku gives up his shard. However, the tables are turned when Kohaku stabs an arrow into the armored shell he's protecting the Shikon Jewel with and Kikyō's purifying light begins consuming him. Breaking away, Naraku hides in the clouds while a piece of his severed flesh manage to remove the shard and bring it to him, restoring the jewel; however, Kikyō's light stays in Kohaku, sustaining his life.

Magatsuhi brings Rin to him to use as a hostage; Naraku has defiled the jewel to the point where there's not room for Magatsuhi anymore. When asked by Byakuya what he would do with the jewel, Naraku admitted that he had no real plans for it and wondered what would be left for him when he killed all the people who hated him. Naraku uses the fully dark jewel to begin his final transformation, healing his wounds and swallowing Rin into his body. Naraku flies into the clouds, creating a miasma storm as he takes on the form of a gigantic spider. However, within this new body his opponents meet several variations on his traditional humanoid form. When Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha's group arrive, he informs them that his miasma should have poisoned them by now, but Shikon Jewel wants their souls, so they are unaffected.

After the defeat of Magatsuhi by Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru, Kagome's spiritual powers return and a small light returns to the once completely corrupted Shikon Jewel. Naraku planned to use the hope of this light to trick Miroku into killing the others with the last use of his Wind Tunnel. However, he is prevented from doing so thanks to Inuyasha. At the same time, he almost tricks Sango into killing Rin along with an illusion of himself; both acts would have purged the light from within the jewel, but both were prevented. When the group arrives, Naraku separates Miroku and Sango from the others, laughing that the couple will wait for the Wind Tunnel to end their lives. With this darkness, Naraku takes on a form similar to the previous one before his transformation, only darker in color. Inuyasha tries swallowing him and the jewel in a Meidō Zangetsuha attack,. but Naraku fuses with the jewel and creates web-like tentacles that fasten him to his body. Naraku says that even if he dies, the jewel will not; this confused Kagome as this means Naraku had no real objective.

She asks what his true wish was, since it seems that the jewel has not granted it. This question startles him greatly. Kagome tells Naraku that he seems to know a lot about relationships because he focused so much on tearing people apart, and mentions that this is because of his human heart, which the Shikon Jewel may not have removed. Naraku thinks about this as Inuyasha voices his anger about how he has ignored his human heart and choose to live solely as a demon before attacking  with a variation on the Meidō Zangetsuha more adapted to his fighting style, and seems to damage even Naraku's most powerful form. Although he regenerates from this repeatedly, Sesshōmaru takes note of Naraku's vulnerability and uses the Bakusaiga on him. Because of Bakusaiga's decomposing powers, Naraku's large outer body begins to fall apart. As Naraku weakens, the curse on the Wind Tunnel begins to break as well, and Miroku uses it to absorb much of the deadly shōki. During this time, Byakuya cuts Kagome with a blade that sampled the Meidō Zangetsuha, which Naraku laughs at, commenting everything will end with a battle of souls.

Cornered because of this, Naraku feeds his soul to the jewel to gain more power, taking on a horrific appearance; he uses this power to stall the others from killing him so he can prepare to crash his gigantic, shōki-filled body into Kaede's village. Though he intends to use this threat of destroying the village to prevent Inuyasha from killing him, Sesshōmaru ignores him and strikes his main body with the jewel with Bakusaiga. Sesshōmaru's sword, however, doesn't even scratch the jewel, which prevents Naraku's death. As his massive body begins to fall onto the village, everyone escapes from within and tries to protect the villagers; Inuyasha uses the Meidō Zangestuha to send his body to Hell, but the miasma remains. Kagome sees the Shikon no Tama within Naraku and shoots an arrow at the jewel.

Prior to the arrow hitting the jewel, Naraku thinks to himself that indeed the Shikon no Tama did not grant his true wish: he wanted Kikyō's love, and laments that he won't be able to go where she is in the afterlife. Naraku's body is completely purified and most of the village is saved from destruction. Naraku, appearing as only a head above the pierced jewel, hovers above the bone-eater's well and says he made a different wish upon the Shikon no Tama earlier in the battle, and that when he dies that wish will be granted. He finally dies, and a stolen meidō appears to swallow Kagome as the well disappears.

It is revealed the wish Naraku made was actually the wish of the Jewel itself: that the souls of Naraku and Kagome would replace it and Midoriko, or merge with them, continuing their battle inside the jewel. This revealed that Naraku was, in fact, another pawn of the Shikon Jewel's quest to maintain its own existence, making the Jewel itself the real antagonist of the entire story. But with help from Inuyasha, Kagome instead makes the Jewel vanish or turn into light. In the manga, what became of Naraku's dead form is never revealed; but in the anime, Naraku's dead form, inside the Jewel, briefly awakened, remarking that he feels warm and is at peace before disappearing forever.

Appearance
When Naraku first appeared in the series, he wore a white baboon cloak-like outfit that hid his face. He was a shape-shifter and as such, no one knew what he actually looked like. Naraku then possessed the young lord Kagewaki Hitomi, and kept that form for the rest of the series. Because he took over Kagewaki's body, he has Kagewaki's long black hair and pale skin, as well as his build and voice. The only difference between them is their eyes; while Kagewaki's eyes are brown, Naraku's are red with white pupils with blue eyeshadow. Later on, he dresses in a simple, common outfit. It was dark blue with a purple vest on top.

Once he had gained more power during his state of dormancy at Mount Hakurei, his appearance changed completely. His outfit then turned purple and light blue, but with boned armor. It has three green tentacle-like arms coming from his back, several large hoop bones and leads to a red-eye on his chest, and two gauntlets on his arms. After he absorbed Mōryōmaru, he gained a gigantic spike of diamond armor on his right arm and his tentacles and the majority of his bone armor were discarded, with only his gauntlets on his arms and his eye remaining. After Kikyō's death, the spike was discarded and his current form became a simpler version of his post-Mount Hakurei outfit, though he gains dark spikes arching over his shoulders.

When he absorbed the Jewel, he became a gigantic spider with eight large horizontal "fangs" and an armored abdomen, his core form within the spider however, was his true body with tentacles connecting him to the spider form. During the final battle, he turned into his normal form but with several diamonds forming the armor and a gigantic armored spider web that replaced the connecting tentacles, he then took on an oni-like appearance and his hair turned white, he also gained a rib cage on his body, but this form was just a head. After Kagome shot him with her arrow, he was reduced to a head with a spine and his face returned to normal. His dead form within the Shikon Jewel was his head and a giant spider web, though it had a more normal appearance.

Power & Abilities
Naraku has shown to be a master at manipulating demons and humans alike. Throughout the series he manipulates many people to get what he wants without getting his own hands dirty. Possibly the most important instance of his manipulation is when he tricked Inuyasha and Kikyō into thinking they had betrayed each other. Naraku transformed into Inuyasha and cut Kikyō down, fatally wounding her. He then transformed into Kikyō and attacked Inuyasha. This caused Inuyasha to feel resentment toward Kikyō and he went to go steal the Sacred Jewel. Kikyō, in turn, thought that Inuyasha had betrayed her and used the last of her strength and spiritual power to shoot a sealing arrow at Inuyasha, pinning him to the Sacred tree. This, ultimately, was to make the Sacred Jewel tainted for Naraku and to get rid of both Kikyō and Inuyasha. This one instance put the entire series in motion and set Inuyasha and the others on their quest to destroy him. Though, there are many other instances in the series where he manipulates others, for example when he offers the Saimyōshō to Sesshōmaru, when he forces a grief-stricken Kōga to confront Inuyasha, and the numerous times he controls Kohaku, just to name a few. Naraku's minion wasps from hell; he keeps a hive of them with him at all times. Their most common use if for preventing the Wind Tunnel from being used, or poisoning the descendants of monk Miyatsu, who are unfortunate or foolish enough to suck them in. They are also useful for spying on Naraku's enemies, communicating with his subordinates, and gathering Jewel shards. Their stings are fatally toxic to both humans and demons alike, but they are rather weak as far as demons go. Many of them are killed by Inuyasha and his group.
 * Master Manipulator 
 * Saimyōshō (Hell Wasps)

He can take the form of anything he chooses, usually a humanoid, and change his voice along with his physical appearance. He possesses the young lord, Kagewaki, and remains in that standard form for the rest of the series. We're told by Miroku that every time his grandfather battled Naraku, the demon appeared in a different form, being defeated when Naraku took the form of a beautiful young woman. The most important instance of his shape-shifting would be the time Naraku disguised himself as Kikyō & Inuyasha and made them hate one-another. As his scent doesn't change with his form, Naraku ceased using this ability as Inuyasha and Koga could smell his scent.
 * Shape-shifting

Puppets which resemble him in his baboon pelt. He controls them from afar and can see through their eyes. They are mostly made of mud and soil, and are able to spring roots in order to attack opponents. They will only disappear if their heart is destroyed, which is a golem with a piece of Naraku's hair wrapped around it. Following Mount Hakurei, Naraku no longer employs the usage of demonic puppetry as he can survive attacks that would have killed him in the past.
 * Demon puppets

Much like Sesshōmaru, Naraku is far stronger than a normal demon and can move faster than the eye can see, both in the air and on the ground.
 * Superhuman strength and speed

Similarly to Sesshōmaru, Naraku possesses the ability to float midair, and to ride upon a cloud of his own shōki. After his transformation into a full yōkai, Naraku never chose to employ his shōki-sustained flight, but flew only by the strength of his will, while in his barrier.
 * Flight

As he is made up of multiple demons in one body, Naraku is able to manipulate their body parts at will in order to restructure and strengthen his body, and he can also regenerate himself from injury and reform his body parts if they are cut off. He most commonly uses these parts to form tentacles which he uses to attack.
 * Demon parts

Naraku is able to absorb other demons into his body, adding their powers and body to his own. This is primarily how he gains strength, by seeking out and absorbing strong demons, giving him access to their powers. Naraku can also expel weaker body parts in order to rid himself of them.
 * Absorption

Naraku has shown using various psychic powers and capabilities; including levitation, telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, mind control, illusion-casting, and astral projection.
 * Psionics

He can make incarnations out of his own body to do his dirty work for him. Most have a spider mark on their back which is a result of being born of Naraku when he still was a hanyō with Onigumo inside him. He often removes their hearts to ensure loyalty with the price of death for disobedience.
 * Detachments

A barrier which prevents the foe from finding and/or attacking him. At first his barrier was only useful in hiding his presence. As he gathered more shards of the jewel, he became powerful enough to erect a barrier strong enough to survive the Kaze no Kizu. After Naraku purged his human heart, the barrier became so powerful that nothing but the Kongōsōha and Kikyō's Sacred Arrow was able to penetrate it.
 * Barrier

Whenever someone sends an attack of yōki into Naraku's barrier, he can channel the flow of the attack into his own jaki and then attack his opponents with it. However, this can only be done with attacks that cannot penetrate his barrier, which means it's useless against Inuyasha's Kongōsōha.
 * Deflection

Naraku can quickly heal his own wounds and also put back together severed pieces of his body. He can control 100% of his body all the time, even when his body parts or even head are severed, which comes in handy when he is trying to absorb someone. However, there is a limit to how much he can regenerate. The more damage he takes, the more time he will need later on to recover. Too much damage can kill him, which is why he had to flee from his enemies in the beginning of the series. Usually, he will absorb demons to speed up his regeneration process. However, after he removes his heart, which comes out as the Infant, he was able to regenerate no matter how much damage his body took since his life force wasn't in his body.
 * Regeneration

Unlike Inuyasha, who is forced to become fully human on the night of the new moon every month, Naraku, as a half-demon with Onigumo inside him, could choose what time of the month he lost all of his powers. Unlike Inuyasha who became a normal human, he was merely a human head attached to a mass of yōkai parts during this time, which he used to experiment with his body and rid himself of any unnecessary parts. Since the events that have transpired on Mt. Hakurei, he no longer has to become human at any time..
 * Human/Demon shift

Naraku sends out one or more of the horns on his elbows in a zigzag beam attack or extends his fingers into tentacles with a glowing attack at the tip of his fingers to attack his foe(s). In the manga, this attack was of a silverish color while in the anime it is of a purple color.
 * Beam attack

Naraku's trademark, a poison which kills anything that touches it. It's what makes his poisonous gas. Naraku uses it to cover his entrances and exits, and can surround himself with the gas while flying. He created a "false Shikon shard" for Kōga with this substance. It was able to power Kōga in the manga and anime for a while until it backfired, poisoning him, and ultimately leading him to remove it with the help of Kagome. Naraku's body is filled with it, which is why when a foe bites him or even touches him he/she gets poisoned. Later on, as his power grew upon his transition to full demon, his shōki is able to take on a liquid form and acts like a river of acid. His shōki is so strong that it allows him to break away pieces of the nearly completed Shikon no Tama to use in his schemes. In the current manga, he can melt entire mountains. Over time his shōki has become so dangerous that after he infects Kikyō with it, neither Kagome nor Kikyō's purification powers seem to be able to purify it. Kikyō absorbs Midoriko's soul in order to protect herself but she comments that she doesn't know how long Midoriko's power can last against Naraku's venom, in the regard that she and Midoriko remain at the same strength while Naraku continues to increase in power. Eventually, even the influence of Midoriko is nullified with Naraku's absorption of the tree and Mōryōmaru.
 * Miasma (Shōki)

After absorbing Akago/Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the haku puppet's ability to remotely control his flesh and send them out to scout for other demons whose abilities could prove useful. Naraku has lately used this ability to detach his head while using his Spider Webs, making it easier for him to flee. Also used when Naraku had several of his tentacles and other excessive appendages attack Kohaku for his shard. It is presumably what allowed his armored copies to move without being directly connected to him.
 * Live Body Pieces

Following his re-absorption of Onigumo's heart a second time, Naraku gained the ability to create threads of spider silk. Only those of high spiritual power, such as Kikyō and Kagome can see them at all times; Naraku can make the webs visible at will if he wants. Anyone whose heart is corrupt will easily be caught in the webbing, allowing to further defile their hearts if he wishes; he can also show them illusions. The appearance of this ability further nods towards his nature as a Spider half-demon. In his final transformation, Naraku creates a giant body in the shape of a spider, which can, obviously send out threads of spider web to ensnare other demons to add to his body.
 * Spider Webs

This power is only displayed in the Playstation 2 RPG InuYasha game, InuYasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask. He obtained this power by deceiving Utsugi, a 'hitogata' duplicate of the original Utsugi, who was created by the priest Kakuju to ease his/her suffering when his/her real wife/husband died. Utsugi, the hitogata, required the soul of a relative of the real Utsugi, and a large portion of the Shikon Jewel, which Naraku provided, and helped in retrieving shards from Kōga to become a true, live human. When Naraku supposedly died, with the jewel in hand, at the hands of Inuyasha & co, the leftover jewel was retrieved by Utsugi behind the scenes. When Utsugi finally retrieved the soul she/he needed, which as it turns out was Kakuju's, Naraku's voice began echoing from the Sacred Jewel, and Naraku took over Utsugi's body rather than absorbing her/him to acquire her shikigami-channeling powers. He became able to use the destructive power of an unknown variety of shikigami, and would time-to-time spout out a long verse when he attacked during the fight in the game. Because this only happens in a game based on the anime and the events of the game stray away from the actual ending of the anime/manga, this power is non-canon.
 * Shikigami

Naraku is seen having the ability to create various "Phantom Castles" as a temporary headquarters throughout the series. After being nearly killed by the Red Tessaiga, Naraku abandons the usage of these castles, deciding to be constantly on the move to avoid being found.
 * Phantom Castle

Naraku has the ability to hide himself within one of his servants and make it appear as though he has disappeared, or have been killed. A simple task; he gets himself "killed'" and hides within the body of a servant of his choice. The only instance we see this is when he hides himself inside of Kohaku. When he was close to emerging from Kohaku a spider mark appeared on his back. To further this scheme, he makes Miroku's Kazaana disappear and returns Kagura's heart to her.
 * Dormancy

Naraku knows many different spells and curses, a prime example being the Wind Tunnel, and the Illusionary Death, used to distract Inuyasha's group when they tried to rescue Kikyō from him.
 * Black Magic

Upon absorbing Mōryōmaru, he gained the Armor Shell of Meiōjū, being able to change its size for his own purposes. Upon absorbing Mōryōmaru, he gained the ability to cover himself at will with Mōryōmaru's impenetrable shell. It has been revealed that Naraku is hiding the Shikon Jewel underneath this shell.
 * Armor Shell

Relationships
Naraku's relationship with Kikyō is very complicated and changes quite often in the series. After all, Naraku was born out of Onigumo's desire to take Kikyō for himself. And yet, Naraku seems to despise her to his very core. For the first half of the series, Naraku feels compelled to eliminate her, as she poses a threat to him and his goal of destroying Inuyasha and getting a complete Shikon Jewel, but he is unable to cast a finishing blow on her because Onigumo's human heart remains inside him. As the series progresses, Kikyō takes many different stances against Naraku, first by convincing Inuyasha that Naraku will never be able to kill her, because Onigumo's heart still beats within him. Later, she steals Kagome's Sacred Jewel fragment and gives it to Naraku, telling Inuyasha that when Naraku completes the jewel, that will be the moment of his undoing, when she can purify both him and the jewel together. On Mt. Hakurei, where Naraku is able to expel his human heart, Kikyō is seemingly killed by Naraku, and he exudes a new found confidence since the one person who he felt was a threat, is now dead. Kikyō miraculously survives the miasma at Mt. Hakurei and gives Kagome a sacred arrow. When Kagome uses the sacred arrow, Naraku is almost killed. He then realizes Kikyō is still alive and makes it his main goal to kill her once again. Soon after, Kikyō merges souls with Midoriko, in an attempt to bring the Jewel together and defeat Naraku. Eventually though, Naraku is able to kill the reborn Kikyō just as he did to her 50 years ago, but the Light she leaves inside the complete Shikon no Tama is ultimately one of the key factors that causes his own demise. Upon his death, Naraku states that the wish he made on the Shikon Jewel was to have Kikyō for himself, but, like all others, the Jewel didn't grant his wish.
 * Kikyō

Naraku feels superior to Inuyasha in every way. In the beginning, both of them sought the Shikon Jewel for the same purpose; to become a full blooded demon. However, after Inuyasha's many transformations, he decides against using the sacred jewel. At first, Inuyasha has little regard for human life, but in his travels with Kagome and friends, he begins to become more sensitive, caring, and more heroic, where as Naraku seems to take the opposite path, leaving more blood and death in his wake as his power grows throughout the story. This parallel is pointed out by Inuyasha himself to Naraku during their final confrontation. The main reason Naraku sought to destroy Inuyasha, though he denied it at every turn, was because he was jealous of the love Kikyō and Inuyasha had for one-another. He wished to have Kikyō for himself, and thus saw Inuyasha as a meddler.
 * Inuyasha

The first time they meet, Naraku is shocked by Kagome's appearance. He believes Kikyō has returned, more determined than ever to kill him and seek revenge for her death. But soon after, when the true Kikyō (who was resurrected) seeks him out, Naraku dismissed Kagome and her spiritual powers, swiftly judging her as an inferior reincarnation whose powers pale in comparison to the original. All of the interactions Naraku has with Kagome early in the series are merely coincidence because she is the one who holds the group's sacred jewel shards; Kikyō steals the shards from Kagome to give them to Naraku, had they been in anyone else's hands, Naraku would have stolen them anyway. After the battle with Kagura & Kanna however, Naraku changes his mind about Kagome's weakness. Naraku and his incarnations were able to defeat every member of the party but Kagome: Reflecting Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu back at him with Kanna's mirror, reflecting Sango's Hiraikotsu back at her, and poisoning Miroku with the Saimyōshō's venom. Despite stealing a portion of Kagome's soul, Kanna was unable to contain the entirety of it, and Kagome's sacred arrow proves to be the only thing capable of freeing the souls within the mirror. Around that time, Naraku starts to find her a nuisance. He then starts to use her as a way of manipulating Inuyasha, most of the time in a way similar to the way he tricked Kikyō and Inuyasha 50 years ago, such as when he has Tsubaki place a curse on Kagome so she can shoot Inuyasha with an arrow.
 * Kagome

The first encounter Naraku has with Sesshōmaru is when he offers him a human arm strengthened by a Shikon Jewel shard, which would allow Sesshōmaru to wield the Tessaiga, Inuyasha's sword, which Sesshōmaru covets. Naraku states that he despises Inuyasha, and wants to use Sesshōmaru to exact his revenge. He also gives him a hive of Saimyōshō in order to prevent Miroku from using his Kazaana. Sesshōmaru fails to take Tessaiga though, and Naraku gets back his jewel shard. Later, He kidnaps Rin to lure Sesshōmaru to his castle in order to absorb Sesshōmaru into his own body and gain his demonic power. When Naraku escapes, Sesshōmaru feels that his pride has been tainted, and begins to pursue Naraku. Naraku is mildly amused by this, and uses Sesshōmaru as a pawn many times later in the series; he uses him to test his new powers at Mt. Hakurei, and he tries to get him to kill Inuyasha numerous times. Sesshōmaru's other sword, the Tenseiga, ends up being the only thing that can destroy Magatsuhi, who had sealed Kagome's spiritual powers. Without Sesshōmaru, Naraku might not have been killed, as Kagome wouldn't have been able to purify his soul. Sesshōmaru's final sword, Bakusaiga is one of the key factors in destroying Naraku's body toward the end of the series.
 * Sesshōmaru

Detachments
To get rid of unnecessary parts as well as keeping a better eye on his surrounding situations, Naraku was constantly releasing detachments of himself to carry out his bidding. Only a few of the detachments truly live up to their purposes as most betrayed him or were quickly disposed of by the people going after him. As of Chapter 548, with the death of Byakuya, Naraku no longer has any living detachments. Naraku said he could control Tenseiga because part Kanna's mirror, also from his body, coated it; if so, it is a mystery he he couldn't control Tōkijin

Naraku's first incarnation and the first out the only two female incarnations, Kanna is an albino girl that barely speaks. She is a demon of "void" or nothingness. Her name comes from an old word meaning "godless world." She remains utterly loyal to Naraku while knowing that they are just tools for his schemes. Representative of the void in which she controls, Kanna herself is completely devoid of any emotion, never questioning any orders given to her by Naraku. In her last battle, Kanna was shattered along with her Mirror Demon in Naraku's hopes of taking Inuyasha's group with her; it failed. Dying, however, Kanna seemed to display emotion, as she really did not wish to die. She commits her only act of defiance against Naraku; a shard of Kanna's shattered body flies into Kagome's eye, letting Kanna show to show Kagome the light that is present within the Shikon jewel could defeat Naraku. She lived the longest of Naraku's detachments, only outlived by her youngest "brother" and Naraku himself.
 * Kanna

A powerful wind sorceress, Kagura is Naraku's second detachment, but was introduced before Kanna. Kagura is the second of the only two females umongst their "siblings". As she is suited for combative purpuses, Kagura is often sent by Naraku to attack Inuyasha's group; sometimes, she serves as the commander of an army of demons under Naraku's control. She also served as caretaker to Akago until Hakudōshi's creation. Used as bait to test the Wind Scar's strength, Kagura came to greatly resent Naraku, knowing he holds her heart in his hands, she constantly schemes of ways to get rid of Naraku to gain freedom; Naraku knows of some of her schemes. Her collaboration with Mōryōmaru lead to the return of her heart; however, she was poisoned by Naraku to ensure that her freedom was short lived and painful. However, Kagura died content with seeing Sesshōmaru one last time. She lived the second longest of Naraku's detachments.
 * Kagura

The third detachment of Naraku and the first male one, Goshinki was a large horned ogre with the ability to read minds and the only one of his siblings to lack a human appearance. He was extremely agile, very powerful, and had teeth so strong they ultimately broke the Tessaiga, which ended up being his own undoing as Inuyasha transformed into a yōkai due to Tessaiga being responsible for sealing his demon blood. After being defeated, Sesshōmaru contracted Kaijinbō to create Tōkijin from the fangs of Goshinki's head once the head was resurrected. He later possessed Kaijinbō to get revenge via Tōkijin, but was subdued by Sesshōmaru's powerful aura. The Tokijin was later broken and abandoned, leaving Goshinki's desire for revenge unfulfilled.
 * Goshinki

Naraku created this fourth detachment following Tōkijin's creation to take advantage of Inuyasha's inability to wield his reforged sword properly. Unlike his other detachments, this one lacked a great deal of intelligence, making it no more less than a simple-minded beast. However, he made up for it with great agility and strength, making him a match for Inuyasha. It also had a twin brother called Kagerōmaru, who lived in his stomach. Naraku kept him shackled to better control him during battle and keep Kagerōmaru asleep in his gut. He and his brother Kagerōmaru were both killed in battle by Inuyasha with his Tessaiga.
 * Jūrōmaru

A small, insect-like demon who loved to feed on the intestines of others and the fifth detachment created by Naraku. He was quite fast, making him a worthy opponent for the wolf demon Kōga. Unlike his twin brother Jūrōmaru, Kagerōmaru was highly intelligent and the only one who could control his mindless brother, Jūrōmaru. Like Kagura, Kagerōmaru wasn't loyal to Naraku, even beheading him after his creation, only to have his heart squeezed as punishment. Naraku had him sealed inside Jūromaru's gut to keep his brother under control. He and his brother Jūrōmaru were both killed in battle by Inuyasha with his Tessaiga.
 * Kagerōmaru

Naraku's sixth detachment. However, unlike the others, this one acted on its own, having his heart inside him; he also lacked a face, prompting him to steal one he found attractive enough for himself, taking the name of his victim as he lacked any memory of who he was. He had the ability to regrow his limbs by absorbing Saimyōshō and morph his body however he chose. In truth, he was Onigumo reincarnated and expelled by Naraku so he could kill Kikyō; he resumed banditry after gaining an identity. Upon regaining his memories, Musō sought out Kikyō to claim her and to kill Naraku for killing her. However, as it was "too soon", Naraku re-absorbed Musō to reclaim to "bridge" holding the demons inside him together.
 * Musō

Naraku's seventh detachment, serving as the container of Naraku's life-force. By finding the darkness in a person's heart, Akago can control them by taking hold of it. Akago was charged with looking into the souls of priest as they died, in order to find the Borderland. Cut in half by a priest in his final attempt, he regrew from his left half and was put in Kanna's care. His right half became Hakudōshi, who had a telepathic link with him. Naraku gifted him with the Fuyōheki to hide his demonic energy from their enemies. Planning to replace Naraku, Akago had Hakudōshi create a suit of armor for him in the form of the haku (life force) puppet, Mōryōmaru. Akago tried having Mōryōmaru swallow Naraku to increase his strength; however, it backfired as Naraku counter-absorbed both Mōryōmaru and him.
 * Akago

NOTE: Akago is standard modern Japanese for baby (whereas all the other characters' names have obscure and / or archaic meanings). In the official English translation, he is called "the infant". Because of such, he has no real name.

Naraku's eighth detachment, created from the right side of his previous infant form and matured into the form of a young boy. He has retains the ability to create a barrier, along with the ability to regenerate his body on the same level as Naraku as his heart, along with Naraku's still resided in his infant half. He loyally served Naraku, taking advantage of his link to him to punish Kagura when she stepped out of line. However, he began plotting to overthrow Naraku along with his other self when they created Mōryōmaru to protect him. However, his overconfidence proved to be his undoing as Naraku was still linked to him and disabled his barrier when he took Kagura hostage, allowing him to be blown to bits. As he tried regenerating, Naraku withdrew the Saimyōshō to allow Miroku to suck him into the Wind Tunnel.
 * Hakudōshi

Naraku's ninth and final detachment, Byakuya was created to replace Kagura and Hakudōshi. Like Kanna, he was loyal to Naraku, though he did voice his opinions time to time. A powerful sorcerer, Byakuya could control vines, people, dimensions and copy techniques with his blade-less hilt. His right eye turned into a winged demon to observe others. Naraku tasked him with keeping tabs on his enemies, and gifting them with items that could help eliminate others. Byakuya was linked to Naraku, losing his arm at the same time Naraku's was shot off; he's even said when Naraku died, he would as well. He died when Inuyasha sucked him into Hell via the Meidō.
 * Byakuya

Other
The demon sealed within the Shikon Jewel centuries ago, it appears in Chapter 513, borrowing flesh from Naraku to craft a temporary body, an armored man with white hair and claws. Upon being free, Magatsuhi attempts to kill Kohaku, and engages Sesshōmaru in combat only to have his borrowed body destroyed. Magatsuhi is later in its true form inside the Shikon Jewel locked in eternal combat with Midoriko, revealing to Inuyasha that when Kagome makes a selfish wish on the Shikon Jewel, she will take Midoriko's place, with Naraku's soul replacing Magatsuhi thus allowing Magatsuhi to finally escape from its imprisonment. But in the end he and Naraku were destroyed forever by Inuyasha when he cuts the point of light in the darkness inside the Shikon no Tama with the Meidō Zangetsuha and arrives in the meidō outside the jewel to save Kagome. Afterwards, Kagome's selfless wish dissolved the rest of the jewel.
 * Magatsuhi

Foil to Inuyasha
Naraku is naturally, in all aspects, a foil to Inuyasha. Both of them are half-demons that sought to become full demons, but Inuyasha ultimately abandoned that goal when he found being a full demon to his dislike and possible detriment, because losing his human side meant losing his human feelings. In a contrast, Naraku welcomed losing his human feelings, having always despised them.

Quotes

 * "Help each other and think of each other... then... because of that... end up dying."
 * "How touching... betraying your companions for your little brother's sake."
 * "I must separate her from Inuyasha... or it might mean my life."
 * "Resentment... for humans... and for the world."
 * "Jealousy? Is this, too, part of Onigumo's grubby heart?"
 * "Your time has come Kikyo. Now, Naraku returns you to the underworld forevermore."
 * "I will not kill you... I will break you."
 * "You have served me well, Princess Abi. Here is your reward: You shall not suffer when I kill you."
 * "Foolish creature... it never realized that it was being consumed from within..."
 * "Now do you understand, Kikyō? You did not come here of your own accord... I lured you here."
 * "You bother to worry about a comrade during a time like this? Your unfailing stupidity never ceases to amaze me."
 * "Try as you might, your efforts are in vain. I shall never die!!"
 * "Kikyo, even after death, you..."
 * "Fools. Do they pity Kanna? But Kanna cannot feel a thing, be it pain, fear or sorrow. She cannot even understand the reason for your pity."
 * "My actual wish, you say? That's right. All I wanted... was Kikyo's heart. It looks like I won't even be able to... join her in death either."
 * "So this how it feels to be in peace, it feels so warm "

Trivia

 * Naraku's "true form" (a giant horned spider) has appeared twice in the series
 * This form also looks like the same yokai spider that striked the bargain with Onigumo that created Naraku.
 * He retains Onigumo's voice when not trying to decieve someone with his shapeshifting.
 * In a certain flashback, it is revealed that Naraku had the spider mark on his back prior to being burned
 * He is renamed as Narak in the Korean Dub (Due to the term 'Naraku' being pronounced as 'Narak' in Korean).
 * In the German dub his name was changed to Narake.
 * Naraku shares similarities to Sephiroth, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII and related spinoffs. While they can be considered opposites before their life-changing event (Sephiroth being a good-willed person revered by his peers while Onigumo was feared and hated by his fellow bandits), they are very similar after their transformation. While Sephiroth was known for his Masamune, he ceases its use upon absorbing Jenova and relied on his shapeshifting powers and ability to produce copies of himself to combat his enemies similar to Naraku's incarnations and amalgam-based forms. Both also share a connection to the main protagonist and manipulated them to their own ends. They also coveted a very powerful gem capable of terrible power (Sephiroth wanting the Black Materia and Naraku the Sacred Jewel, which also eventually turned black as well). Both also have the ability to produce a very hazardous substance (Sephiroth's Geostigma and Naraku's miasma). both share the same Japanese voice actor.
 * Additionally, both shared a connection with female leads, with Naraku wanting to originally take Kikyo for himself while Sephiroth is of the same species as Aeris although early drafts and a rare artwork render shows that the two would have shared a relationship beyond that.
 * The word Naraku is derived from Sanskrit language, "Naraka", which bears the same meaning as Naraku.