Chapter 352

Goryōmaru's Fate is the 352nd chapter of the InuYasha manga.

Summary

 * Hakudōshi kills Goryōmaru. It's also revealed that Kanna and The Infant had been at the temple. The three of them make their mistake and leave Kagura to deal with Inuyasha and the others.
 * Kagura gives the group some information and flies off. The group buries Goryōmaru's body and tells the children to flee the temple.
 * Kagura finds Kanna and Akago at an Ogre-shaped cliff.

Synopsis

 * Hakudōshi has just cut at Goryōmaru's neck, however the third panel reveals that his head wasn't cut off, but his neck was sliced through significantly and he begins to bleed profusely. In anger, Goryōmaru charges an attack of killing-light from his deformed arm and fires it at the whitechild, but Hakudōshi is protected by a barrier. Hakudōshi calls the attack puny.
 * Meanwhile, Inuyasha and group are still at the cavern of demons-turned-Rakanzo statues. Inuyasha says he smells blood coming from the direction of Goryōmaru's temple, so they rush off to see what's going on.
 * Hakudōshi is about to reverse the power of Gorymaru's killing-light on him, slaying him with his own attack, but then Inuyasha and group appear on the scene, which Hakudōshi finds a nuisance. Hakudōshi fires a blast of killing-light at them and the group dodges the attack, but it turns out to be a diversion. Hakudōshi quickly jumps down and finishes the job, using his Naginata to slice off Goryōmaru's head. Kagome gasps. Kagura watches the display blank-faced until she turns around after hearing footsteps. It's Kanna, holding The Infant. This frustrates Kagura even more because Akago was here all along. Kanna steps into Hakudōshi's barrier and they fly off. Hakudōshi tells Kagura to take care of Inuyasha and the others. Inuyasha uses his windscar on the barrier but it proves to be useless as always. Hakudōshi stares. "I just want you to know, Goryōmaru didn't know anything.", then makes his escape.
 * Inuyasha asks Kagura what he's talking about, and she explains it's that Goryōmaru must have been (inadvertently) providing a haven for the Infant. Miroku and Sango recall that this has happened once before: when Princess Abi's demon birds attacked a castle and Kohaku killed everyone but a woman and the infant she had with her; they later learned that infant was Akago. Inuyasha asks Kagura why she's giving them this information, as well as why she's still alive after being run through the chest. She answers it's because Naraku has her heart. Miroku then curiously questions "Did you assault this temple thinking his heart was here?" She says "Maybe", but in any case, she has to go after Hakudōshi and Kanna. She makes her escape. Miroku says there's no longer any doubt; Kagura is planning to betray Naraku. Kagome feels sorry for Goryōmaru because he was just being used as a shield for the infant, and once Inuyasha and Kagura arrived at the temple, they got too close, so he was disposed of.
 * The Gyōja children huddle around Goryōmaru's body, sobbing over his death. The group helps bury him. They then tell the children to leave the temple at once. All of the demons who harbored a grudge toward Goryōmaru are now returning to destroy the temple now that he's dead. Kagome also says they're probably attracted by the ever-growing demonic aura around the Rakanzo statues. She wonders if whoever cast the spell did it so that the temple would eventually fall prey to the demons being attracted by the Rakanzo.
 * Kagura is flying after Kanna & Hakudōshi. She thinks to herself that this time she'll learn where the infant is for certain. Kagura stops flying and pauses when she comes to an Ogre shaped cliff. She looks inside the mouth of the ogre-cliff and sees Kanna holding the infant. She wonders if she should follow them inside.