Episode 157

Destroy Naraku with the Adamant Barrage! is the 157th episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * 1) Hōsenki tells Inuyasha to slay him, so that his Tessaiga will absorb his abilities.
 * 2) While trying to slay Hōsenki, Sesshōmaru and Naraku continue their battle; Naraku's miasma spews over to Inuyasha and the others, threatening their lives.
 * 3) Inuyasha abandons his attempt to kill Hōsenki in order to protect Kagome and the others from the miasma.
 * 4) Due to his lack of greed and desire to protect his friends, Inuyasha succeeds in gaining a new ability for Tessaiga: Adamant Barrage.
 * 5) The Adamant Barrage destroys Naraku's barrier; Naraku narrowly escapes death by transporting his body into Hakudōshi's barrier, which served as a link to the land of the living.

Summary
Sesshōmaru and Naraku face off. Sesshōmaru initiates the conflict by firing a blue energy wave at Naraku with Tokijin. However, though it quivers and trembles from the force, Naraku's barrier holds. Naraku mockingly comments on how Sesshōmaru is "at least" stronger than Inuyasha.

Hōsenki instructs Inuyasha to slay him, so that Tessaiga can absorb his powers, but warns Inuyasha that if he fails, he will die himself. Inuyasha attacks Hōsenki's skull, but is unable to even scratch the adamant.

Naraku and Sesshōmaru battle, but neither can gain the upper hand. While Sesshōmaru attempts to use both energy blasts and slashes to breach Naraku's barrier, both are in vain. Naraku, on the other hand, retailiates with his tentacles, but Sesshōmaru easily vaporizes them. The resultant miasma has no effect on the powerful daiyokai, but Naraku asserts that the miasma will poison the weaker Inuyasha and his comrades. An undanunted Sesshōmaru retorts that the others' lives are of little consequence; his only priority is to slay Naraku. He continues to blast Naraku's tentacles and a cloud of miasma gradually accumulates.

Inuyasha keeps trying to break through the adamant-encrusted skull.

When Naraku's miasma threatens Kagome, Inuyasha abandons his battle with Hōsenki to protect his companions. Despite Hōsenki's demands that he focus on strengthening his sword over caring for his human comrades, Inuyasha refuses to allow his friends to be poisoned. Abandoning his fruitless efforts to slay Hōsenki, Inuyasha opts to use his Wind Scar to disperse the encroaching miasma.

A mildly amused Naraku thinks that the Wind Scar will only prolong the inevitable, and smugly allows the golden energy to deflect off of his barrier. However, he is shocked to discover that Hōsenki's spears of adamant are intermixed with the Wind Scar, which promptly shatters his barrier. A dismayed and astounded Naraku floats, unprotected, above the corpse of the Inu no Taisho. Hōsenki then explains that - as before - Inuyasha's lack of greed to make Tessaiga more powerful and his desire to protect his friends is why he was given the new ability. Had Inuyasha continued his attempts to slay Hōsenki, he would have been slain by the same Adamant Barrage that splintered Naraku's barrier.

Using his newfound attack, Inuyasha then attacks a shocked Naraku. The spears perforate his unprotected body, leaving him gasping in pain and shock. Sesshōmaru then comments on Naraku's hubris leading to his downfall, and fires another energy wave at the injured Naraku, rending his body into numerous scattered scraps of flesh. But as Naraku reforms himself, Kikyō's arrow pulses. Kagome draws it and fires at the jewel shard. The shard is purified, but Naraku and Kikyō's arrow disappear.

Kagura returns to Kohaku and Hakudōshi, the latter is resting inside of a barrier. Suddenly Naraku's pieces and Kikyō's arrow appear within Hakudōshi's barrier. The arrow pierces Hakudōshi's chest as Naraku slowly reassembles himself; although his body suffered tremendous damage, Hakudoshi's barrier gave him a link to return to the land of the living, and he cannot be slain as long as his heart is separate from his body.

Hōsenki tells Inuyasha and his companions that they must hurry back to the world of the living before the gateway closes. They follow Sesshōmaru and Jaken to the gateway.