Hakudōshi

Hakudōshi (白童子, White Child) is the eighth detachment from Naraku. Created from The Infant's body, he takes the form of a young child. Because his heart remains inside The Infant, he can use all of the same powers and his own body can endlessly regenerate from any damage. Eventually, both The Infant and Hakudōshi grow tired of Naraku's rule, and seek to betray and overthrow him. To help The Infant in battle and protect him, Hakudōshi creates Moryomaru. Naraku knew of his traitorous intentions but waited until the right time to command his Saimyōshō to abandon Hakudōshi in battle and disable his barrier as well (due a few comments about not needing Naraku and being the "original"), giving him no protection against Miroku's Wind Tunnel.

History
Upon learning the last shard of the Shikon Jewel is in the world between the living and the afterlife Naraku sends The Infant and Kagura to kill priests and priestesses in order to discover a way into the next world. One of the monks they attack manages to cut the baby in half, before he dies. Kanna meets with Kagura and tells her to keep one half of the infant while she took the other half. The half Kagura is charged to watch would grow into the body of a young child. The child would take the name of Hakudōshi. Upon awakening he orders Kagura to bring him new clothes as he had out grown his old ones. The yokai horse Entei follows Kagura and choose Hakudōshi to become his new master. In the anime Hakudōshi kills Entei's previous owner which earns the demon horse's respect.

Shortly after this he encounters Inuyasha's group for the first time in his new form. He confirms that Naraku is indeed searching for way to travel to the world between the living and the dead, and also reveals to them that the last Shikon shard is there, something the group did not know. When Kagura questions him about this Hakudōshi simply replies that he saw no need to keep it a secret. When Inuyasha tries to kill him with the Wind Scar Hakudōshi puts up a barrier, and then leaves with Kagura and Entei.

Hakudōshi decides that a human priest could not provide him with the location to the world between the living and the afterlife, so he decides that yokai may hold the key. He begins to cut off the heads of demons to search their minds in order to find the way to travel to the next world. After decapitating many youkai Hakudōshi finally discovers the location of the next world. He orders Kagura to tell Inuyasha and his friends about the location to a gate that leads to the world between the living and dead.

He intends to use them to battle the gate keepers and use Kagura to see if the gate is safe. Kagura questions Hakudōshi about using her, which he admits to doing. This causes Kagura to attack him, only to discover like Naraku he can simply regenerate. He warns Kagura that he is connected to Naraku and that attacking him will only lead to Naraku to squeeze her heart as punishment.

After Naraku makes a pact with the bird Princess Abi Hakudōshi helps Abi and her bird demons to collect the blood of humans. He briefly battles Inuyasha but Inuyasha is unable to overcome his barrier, even with the Red Tessaiga. Hakudōshi's barrier is broken by purifying arrow to his surprise, this allows Inuyasha to cut him with the Wind Scar. Hakudōshi starts to regenerate, but Entei is killed by the Backlash Wave.

He orders Kagura to take him and retreat. While regenerating in a hide out Kagura notices that Hakudōshi does not have a heart, and deduces that his heart is in the infant. Hakudōshi acts as Naraku's connection to the living world when he travels to the world between the living and the dead. When Kagome shot Naraku with one of Kikyo's arrows it follows Naraku back to the living world striking Hakudōshi down, however since the baby is the one who poessess their shared heart neither Naraku or Hakudōshi is killed by the arrow.

Forcing Kikyo Out
Under orders from Naraku, Hakudōshi ( along with Kohaku ) try to lure Kikyou out in the open. The pair kill a rat youkai and take his shrine. Hakudōshi opens the shrine releasing a swarm of youkai rats that devour anything in their path. When Kikyou finally acts Hakudōshi orders Kohaku to guard the shrine and keep it open, while he goes to deal with Kikyo. He just misses Kikyo, but destroys the tree by using giant slugs she created to purify the rats. He tells Inuyasha and Kagome that if they see Kikyo to tell her that Naraku will continue to cause this level of destruction until he finds her. He also retrieves Kohaku and takes him back to Naraku.

Creating Moryomaru
Hakudōshi along with Kohaku hunt down a demon that devours haku the power that moves the body of all living being in the InuYasha world. After killing the demon Hakudōshi takes the haku it had devoured to use in his experiments. His experiments involved using pieces of other youkai together as a mish-mashed from, and using the haku to allow them to move. His experimented demons run around attacking humans and demons alike drawing the attention of both Koga's group and Inuyasha's group, who kill all of the mish-mashed demons. Eventually Hakudōshi discovers that the closer the created youkai were to a human appearance the easier it is for them to move. He perfected creating youkai and created Moryomaru.

Hakudōshi decides to test out his creation by having him fight Koga and at the same time try to steal the wolf demon's two Shikon shards. Moryomaru has the upperhand, until Inuyasha interferes unleashing the Wind Scar. Hakudōshi protects Moryomaru with his barrier. Despite InuYasha joining the fight Moryomaru is able to hold his own while Hakudōshi watches. By working together the two groups manage to create an opening for Inuyasha to use his new technique Kongosoha, but once Hakudōshi steps in to protect Moryomaru despite knowing his barrier would be broken by Inuyasha's attack. Unknown to the group the baby urges Hakudōshi to save Moryomaru.

Although he fails to steal Koga's shards Hakudōshi manages to gain a small victory by stealing the yoki crystal from Miroku, preventing the group from locating the fuyouheki that conceals the baby's yoki. In the anime Koga is not involved in the fight at all, instead of tracking Koga down Hakudōshi test Moyomaru out on Inuyasha, however the fight ends in the same manner as the manga.

After retreating Hakudōshi delivers Moyomaru to the baby and Kanna. He leaves telling the baby to use Moyomaru any way he wants to. He questions Naraku about why he allows Kagura to live even though he knows she is betraying him. Naraku answers him by saying that he can end Kagura's life anytime he chooses because he has her heart and that he (Naraku) needed her for one final job. He appears before Kagura and takes her to the temple of Goryomaru.

He seemingly kills Goryomaru shocking Kagura and Inuyasha and his friends. Hakudōshi retrieves Kanna and the baby and leaves with them, but not before he orders Kagura to deal with Inuyasha's group. When Naraku lures Inuyasha's gang into a giant oni, Hakudōshi and Naraku appear before Kagura's and mock her failed attempt to reveal the baby's location to Inuyasha and his friends.

Rebelling Against Naraku
Kagura's final job for Naraku turns out to be guarding Goryomaru who is revealed to be alive. She questions why she is guarding him when Hakudōshi appears before her. He tells Kagura if she wants to know how to release Goryomaru. He tries to convince Kagura into releasing Goryomaru despite that Naraku ordered her to guard him. He appears to have his own motives for freeing Goryomaru. Hakudōshi confronts Kagura and Kohaku to try to steal Kohaku's jewel shard.

He muses that Kagura is untrustworthy for betraying both Naraku and Moryomaru. Kagura questions if Hakudōshi has betrayed Naraku too, although he does not answer her. Kagura sends Kohaku away on her feather to protect him, before Hakudōshi can go after him he is attacked by Inuyasha.

He gets into another fight with Inuyasha, but he effectively takes Kagura within his barrier and uses her as a shield against Inuyasha. He reveals his true intentions: that he and the baby plan to replace Naraku. Because Naraku removed his heart from his body and put it inside the baby he cannot kill the baby, when Naraku gave the baby the Fuyouheki to conceal his yoki he and Hakudōshi decided now was the time to act against Naraku. Hakudōshi played his part by creating Moryomaru to act as armor for the baby to better protect him from not only Naraku's enemies but Naraku himself. Hakudōshi mocks Naraku by saying that Naraku is now an empty shell and he and the baby are the real ones.

Death
Hakudōshi taunts Kagura saying that Naraku knows about her betrayal and will kill her. He tells her that her only fate is to be killed by Naraku or absorbed by Moryomaru. Kagura attacks him, but like always his body regenerates. However his barrier is disabled by Naraku (in a bit dramatic irony, this happens right after Hakudōshi boasts that not even Naraku can kill him). With Kagura out of harms way Inuyasha attacks him with the Wind Scar, Hakudōshi simply continues to regenerate. Miroku threatens to suck him in the Wind Tunnel, but he points out that Miroku would also suck up the poisonous insects, thus killing him. Naraku calls to the insects, making Hakudōshi realize that Naraku has abandoned him for his betrayal. Kagura mocks him for Naraku's actions comparing their situations.

Hakudōshi tells her that his situation is different from hers because he is real. In a last ditch effort Hakudōshi creates a cloud of shoki to protect him while he attempts to finish off Kagura shouting to himself that he is not a tool to Naraku like Kagura is, however Kagome purifies the cloud and Miroku unleashes his wind tunnel sucking up Hakudōshi.

Similarities and Differences with Naraku
Hakudōshi is perhaps the offspring that is most like Naraku—even more so than the baby. He is cruel, controlling, and self-serving. He takes pleasure in watching the suffering of others, much like Naraku, as he has been seen to enjoy watching Kagura suffer for her failed attempts of freedom. When he and Kohaku unleashed a swarm of killer rat demons, he was shown watching the death destruction they caused with childish delight. He also made a special trip to the mountains just so he could watch Abi-hime's birds kill and drink the blood of refugees.

Unlike Naraku, Hakudōshi is fearless, more hands-on and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty—something Kagura was quick to notice. Hakudōshi does battle with Inuyasha many times, and unlike Naraku, he is not as quick to run and doesn't rely on his barrier as much as his maker. He is not above running if his body takes a lot of damage, or using someone else to do his work if his life is in danger (he left Entei to die so that he could make his escape and showed no remorse for his loss). Though he is very clever, Hakudōshi isn't quite as manipulative as Naraku and tends to take a more direct approach in matters. He openly reveals the location of the last Shikon shard and makes it very clear that he is going to use Inuyasha's group to get to it. His solution for luring Kikyo out of hiding using Zushinezumi is crude and ruthlessly efficient, and he continuously asks why Naraku doesn't kill Kagura even though he knows she is a traitor.

Abilities
Being a demon gives Hakudōshi many different abilities and powers. What makes him unique amoung Naraku's other detachments is that he shares many of the same abilities as Naraku himself.


 * Barrier: Like Naraku, Hakudōshi has the ability to create a barrier, which is just as powerful as Naraku's himself. The barrier is strong enough to withstand a direct hit from the Kaze no Kizu, one of the most powerful yoki based attacks in the series. He can also adjust the size of his barrier to allow others around him inside it, such as Entei the youkai horse and later Kagura. His barrier is also immune the barrier shattering Red Tessaiga. The barrier can be destroyed by beings with great spiritual power (as Kikyo's purifying arrow was shown to be able to destroy it), and the Kongosoha, the hardest substance in the world. Naraku can control Hakudōshi's barrier and as such he can disable it should he wish. He did this when he discovered Hakudōshi had betrayed him.


 * Reversing Yoki: Hakudōshi can reverse the flow of yoki based attacks that are captured in his barrier. He can use his own yoki to capture the yoki attack and then use his yoki to reverse the flow, which allows him to redirect the enemy's attack back on him or her. If the attack can break his barrier then he cannot reverse the flow.


 * Shouki: Hakudōshi can produce his own shouki, a poisonous substance. Hakudōshi only uses the shouki once in the series, so it is unknown if his is as strong as Naraku's.


 * Regeneration: Hakudōshi was originally part of the baby; he does not have his own heart, but shares one with baby just like Naraku. As a result, he cannot be killed from physical attacks. Hakudōshi's body had been destroyed many times in the series, but he always regenerates the damage he takes. Hakudōshi often uses his regeneration to his advantage in battle, such as when he shielded Moryomaru from Inuyasha's Kongosoha which he knew could destroy his barrier. Hakudōshi rebelled against Naraku openly because he knew that Naraku could not kill without killing the baby which would essentially kill himself. Unfortunately, like Naraku, his regeneration cannot protect him from being sucked into Miroku's Wind Tunnel, which is what kills him.

Name Meaning
Hakudōshi literally means "White Child".