Musō

"Born of this most abominable flesh... and yet, he is unlike any you've known before, Inuyasha."

- Naraku

was Naraku's sixth incarnation. He was also the rejected heart of Naraku's human core, Onigumo.

History
Naraku cared so little for this incarnation that he gives it no name or face. Upon being separated, Naraku left the incarnation to fend for itself. Kanna asks Naraku if the new incarnation is her brother, and Naraku says he's nothing like the rest of them.

Musō awoke confused as to his purpose and identity, naked and faceless. He killed many local townsfolk and samurai, severing their faces from their heads. He tried each face on as he was born without one. However, each was too old or ugly for his tastes. He eventually met the monk, Musō, who attempted to exorcise him, knowing Musō to be a demon. After a brief battle, Musō overpowered the monk and began to wear his face. He took on the name of the monk as well.

Musō plundered, robbed, and murdered, but still felt an emptiness inside he couldn't fill. He eventually wandered into Kikyō's former village, where he ran into Inuyasha's group. Inuyasha smelled the scent of Naraku on the demon and asks who he is, but Musō admits he has no memories and doesn't know who he himself is. Inuyasha and group realize Musō was the one responsible for all the local murders and faces stolen off corpses. Inuyasha attacks Musō with the Tessaiga and rips his arm off, however, the group notices Musō's body seems to be made out of some form of clay. A hoard of Naraku's poison insects suddenly appeared and formed around Musō's side, regenerating his arm. Musō then demands Inuyasha tell him what's in the village, saying it's "calling" to him. Musō believed if he slaughtered the villagers, his memory would be restored. Inuyasha and Musō then battled.

During the battle, Kagome shouts to Inuyasha (in the Anime, she recently returns from the Modern era through the Bone-Eater's Well.) The sight of Kagome's likeness triggers Musō's memories of Kikyō. Desperate to know who she was, Musō grabbed Kagome and took her, declaring she was the one he had been missing: He wanted Kikyō. Inuyasha uses the Kaze no Kizu to free Kagome, seemingly destroying Musō. The group wonders why he would refer to Kagome as Kikyō. Miroku wonders if Musō could be Onigumo, who suffered burns all over his body, especially his face, and who held deep desire for Kikyō. Later, the remains of Musō' body reforms after being struck by the windscar.

Battling Inuyasha
Inuyasha tracks Musō's scent and the group follows it, only to be stopped by Kagura. On Naraku's orders, she tells Inuyasha and group that Musō is heading for Onigumo's cave. Meanwhile, Musō thinks to himself in Onigumo's cave. He lays on the patch of dead grass where Onigumo once laid, and remembers this place. He also remembers being unable to move due to his burns, and how Kikyō was near him and he desired her. He recalls that he desired her so much that he sold his soul to demons, creating Naraku. Kaede happens upon the cave and asks Musō who he is and what he wants, and he calls her a "shriveled up old hag" and "grandma". He attempts to kill the old priestess, but Inuyasha arrives at the last moment and saves her. Musō says he remembers everything now: he once went by the name Onigumo. Inuyasha blames him for everything and says he's the heart of Naraku, but Musō disagrees, saying as soon as the demons devoured him, nothing went as planned. The entire reason he sold his soul was so he'd have a working body able to take Kikyō for himself, and steal the Shikon jewel.

But once he had his new body, the first thing he did when he left the cave was rip apart the body of the woman he'd longed to possess, the woman he sold his soul for. He admits he was conscious the entire time, awake inside Naraku, watching him slash at the priestess he desired. After the Shikon Jewel was burned with Kikyō's remains, Musō was banished to a "deep, dark place", within Naraku. And then suddenly, he found himself alive again.

Miroku asks Musō if he's been given any orders by Naraku, and the demon replies he takes orders from no one. He takes what he wants and kills who he hates. He says Inuyasha is included in the latter and that he is enraged that the Hanyou lived whilst Kikyou died, leaving his life without meaning.

Musō grows demonic limbs made from the Saimyōshō, and battles with Inuyasha. Inuyasha uses the wind scar once again, but Musō's body reforms around the spider mark on his back. Inuyasha tries to kill Musō by attacking the spider mark, but Kagura uses her wind to deflect the attack away from Musō. The incarnation escapes.

Elsewhere, Naraku teases Kikyō that he no longer has the heart of Onigumo and can easily kill her, but when he grabs her by the throat, one of his hands deforms into that of an ogre. Naraku quickly realizes he made a mistake releasing Onigumo so rashly, and retreats to find his newest incarnation.

Reuniting with Naraku
The Saimyōshō take Musō to nearby forest where Naraku is waiting. Musō recognizes him as Naraku, and angrily questions him, accusing him of killing Kikyō.

Naraku tells Musō that Kikyō is alive again and she is as he remembers her to Musō's shock. Before he can question Naraku about Kikyō, Inuyasha and Miroku appear. As Inuyasha starts a fight with Naraku, Musō runs away but stops abruptly. Still angry at Naraku for his imprisonment, he decides to go back to kill Naraku. Musō impaled Naraku with his tentacle, believing he'd won, but Naraku used this as an opportunity to absorb him back into his body. Musō tried to break free but couldn't, as he screamed for Kikyō.

Naraku gloated that Musō should have run, just as Miroku and Inuyasha confront Naraku. Inuyasha hypothesizes that Naraku was very eager to get rid of his human heart that longed for Kikyō, but he must have accidentally released something else with Musō, something he wasn't ready to part with. Naraku commends Inuyasha for his deduction and admits that he still needed Onigumo's heart as a connector for his body, which was why he needed to reabsorb him.

Personality
As the embodiment of Onigumo and his feelings for Kikyō, Musō, is influenced by Onigumo's inner thoughts even in his most amnesiac state. He was confused and frustrated by his lack of identity, memories and of a face. He was picky about faces, but found that Musō's face seemed to fit him, also taking the monk's name for his own. He maintained a cheerful childlike glee even as he committed murder and as he explained his ideological crisis.

Still feeling empty, Musō went on a hedonistic rampage to see if it could bring up memories of his past, but only derived personal enjoyment. When meeting Inuyasha, he calmly explained that looking at the Hanyo's face made him inexplicably angry. He was likewise reacted to the discovery that he had Yokai physiology and could rebuild himself with Saimyōshō with a mirthful and blasé attitude.

Upon seeing Kagome and remembering Kikyō, Musō manages to recover his past memories and at this point, his personality becomes indistinguishable to Onigumo's.

Physical description
Musō had the form of a faceless young man with long hair and a spider scar on his back. He is faceless because Onigumo was badly burnt before becoming Naraku, even his face was burnt off. Therefore, Musō receives the same outcome.

Powers & Abilities

 * Facial Theft: Having been created without a face, Musō can take on facial identities of others by apply faces to his head after ripping them off.
 * Regeneration: Musō demonstrated infuriatingly powerful regenerative abilities, able to piece himself back together even after taking the Kaze no Kizu from Inuyasha. However, had his heart been destroyed, not only his but Naraku's downfalls would have been assured. He also demonstrated the ability to regenerate and shapeshift new limbs, spikes, multiple legs and arms, claws, and a tail.
 * Shapeshifting: Musō is able to transform part of this body into plant-like structures and manipulate them. He has transformed his arms into gigantic vines and used them to whip Inuyasha around. He has also created large thorn spikes out of his body as a defensive gesture. When his powers matured further, he was able to transform into a gigantic scorpion like creature.
 * Enhanced Speed: Musō is shown to be faster than an average human. he was easily able to dodge Sango's Hiraikotsu and could keep up with Naraku's speed.
 * Enhanced Strength: Musō was much stronger than a normal human, Musō was able to kill an entire group of bandits with his barehands and was strong enough to give Inuyasha and his friends a hard time. Musō was also able to hold his own against Naraku for a while.

Weapons

 * Katana: After Musō slaughtered the bandits and took the face of the monk, he had stolen the sword of a bandit that crossed his path. he used the sword to steal and raid villages but it was destroyed when his arm was incinerated by Inuyasha's Tessaiga. in the manga Musō acquired another katana but in the anime he did not.
 * Spear: Musō used one when he was massacring villagers from horseback, but switched to his katana upon dismounting.

Manga vs. Anime

 * In the manga, Musō is the seventh incarnation of Naraku. However, in the anime he is the sixth.
 * In the manga, there is a woman captive among the bandits that discover Musō. This women survives Musō's rampage with trauma, as the faceless yokai had no need for her face and gives information to Inuyasha.
 * In the manga Musō instantly attacks Naraku and is absorbed almost immediately. The anime goes into further detail with the encounter.

Trivia

 * Muso's ability to regenerate and come back together after being blown to bits is similar to that of Majin Buu and his evil counterpart, Super Buu, in the anime . In the Ocean dub aired in Canada, Super Buu and his previous form, Evil Buu, are also voiced by Brian Dobson. Ironically, while Super Buu absorbs victims, Musō himself ends up being absorbed.
 * Other parallels can be drawn in that both are a part of a demon split off while closely representing their former self which had been suppressed but still influenced them (Naraku is comprised of several demons and Onigumo's heart and soul, and Onigumo was split off from Naraku and reincarnated as Musō, while Super Buu is Majin Buu with very little good in him having been driven out of the original Majin Buu, who had been turned into a less evil creature after absorbing Dai Kaio), and both are reincarnated into a childlike form with different personalities (the Infant is essentially Musō reincarnated due to being Naraku's heart, while Super Buu is reincarnated as the human child Uub after his death, plus before his death he turns into Kid Buu who has a more psychotic personality much like the Infant does, though in quite the opposite way).

Media appearances
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Manga

 * Chapter 208
 * Chapter 209
 * Chapter 210
 * Chapter 211
 * Chapter 212
 * Chapter 213
 * Chapter 282

Anime
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 * Episode 69
 * Episode 70
 * Episode 71
 * Episode 125