Chapter 396

Venomous Mizuchi is the 396th chapter of the InuYasha manga.

Synopsis

 * Inuyasha fights a venomous demon named Mizuchi, who absorbed a piece of Mōryōmaru's flesh.
 * Byakuya watches the fight and sees when Inuyasha fails to use his Dragon-scaled Tessaiga.

Summary

 * A horde of Samurai attempt to kill a terrifying demon named Mizuchi, but it breathes miasma on the soldiers, melting them to the bone. Later, Inuyasha and group come to a village and are informed about a water demon named Mizuchi, and how a whole squad of Samurai from the castle never returned after being sent to dispatch the demon.
 * The group finds the site where all the soldiers were killed, and Sango says it must be a Mizuchi demon. She says normally, a Mizuchi's venom will only poison soil and plants, for it to melt a human, the demon must be huge. Inuyasha catches the Mizuchi's scent, and says that a faint scent of Mōryōmaru is mixed with the water-demon. Nearby, a flying eyeball spies on Inuyasha and group. It flies away into the empty socket Naraku's newest Incarnation, Byakuya of the dreams.
 * The group arrives at the swamp Mizuchi supposedly dwells in. Inuyasha uses his windscar to blow away the water and reveal the demon, but instead a massive whirlpool of Shōki comes out. Mizuchi reveals itself, and Inuyasha impatiently asks where Mōryōmaru is. Mizuchi says he's never heard that name before, but Inuyasha says he can smell that a piece of flesh on Mizuchi's body stinks of Mōryōmaru. Mizuchi says a piece of flesh fell from the sky into his swamp and he ate it, so maybe it belonged to Mōryōmaru. He also mentions that he's felt stronger than ever after eating that chunk of demon flesh. Inuyasha wonders "So then he's not helping you?" and Mizuchi replies he hunts alone.
 * Inuyasha uses the windscar on Mizuchi, and the demon spews a mass of venom at the Hanyō, which proves so powerful it pushes the windscar aside. Inuyasha decides he needs to use the Dragon-scaled Tessaiga to absorb the demon's venom, but just like last time he used the technique, Tessaiga starts to heat up uncontrollably.
 * Byakuya watches the fight from nearby and remarks to himself that Tessaiga is a funny sword, that can be either incredibly strong or incredibly weak.