Chapter 329

Tree Blight is the 329th chapter of the InuYasha manga.

Synopsis

 * Sango tries to destroy the Zushi shrine that Kohaku is guarding and the two siblings start to battle.
 * At the demon lure tree, Hakudōshi tries to destroy it so the rats can keep rampaging. Kagome and Inuyasha are able to stop him, but the rats act like the lure has weakened.

Summary

 * Sango becomes despondent when she sees Kohaku with the demon-rat shrine. They saw many villages completely destroyed, men, women and children all nothing but bones whose flesh was devoured by the rats and she can't believe that Kohaku is involved. Glancing around at the Saimyōshō, Kohaku stutters and says that he has to follow orders. Sango jumps off Kirara and swings her Hiraikotsu to destroy the shrine, but before she has the chance Kohaku closes the doors of the Zushi and straps it on his back, running away with it. As she pursues her brother, demon rats get in Sango's way so she beats them with her boomerang, making them multiply. When Miroku tells her to stop, she simply tells the monk to swallow them with the Wind Tunnel, not caring about the rats but focused on Kohaku. Miroku closes his wind tunnel when he notices the rats are completely ignoring them. They just keep running in the direction of the demon lure.
 * 329.jpgsha, Kagome, and Shippō reach the Mayose tree that Kikyō created, which the demon rats are climbing. Shippō asks what happens when the rats get to the top, and Kagome says they probably get purified. Inuyasha wonders about Kikyō. She set the lure, but where is she? As the three of them stare up at the Mayose, slug monsters suddenly appear from out of nowhere and attach themselves to the tree-bark. Then, Hakudōshi appears, calling Kikyō a coward for setting the lure and then running away. Inuyasha asks him if he's the one responsible for the rats, and he says "Do you even have to ask?" The three of them see that the slugs are eating away at the tree, and it will snap if they don't do something fast. Inuyasha draws his Tessaiga and is about to attack Hakudōshi, who's standing on a branch of the tree. Kagome tells him not to use the windscar because that would cut down the demon-lure and play right into Hakudōshi's hands, but Inuyasha acts like that was a stupid thing to say, (even though he was about to use the windscar.) Kagome uses a sacred arrow on one of the slugs, and then when she aims at Hakudōshi, the white child jumps away from the tree to dodge her, allowing Inuyasha to attack without endangering the tree. When Inuyasha uses the windscar, the incarnation is cut up into many pieces but he still doesn't die. As he disappears and makes his escape, he tells Inuyasha to relay a message to Kikyō: As long as she hides from Naraku, things like this will keep happening and more innocent people will die.
 * After Hakudōshi fades away, Kagome notices that the rats aren't running up the tree anymore. The power of the demon lure must be weakening, so if they don't get rid of all the giant slugs soon they'll be overrun. Inuyasha uses his claws and kills all the slugs up high and Kagome uses her arrow on the ones that are lower on the trunk.
 * Sango continues to chase after Kohaku, and when she almost destroys the shrine with her Hiraikotsu, Kohaku attacks her with his scythe. She begs Kohaku to come to his senses and not to add to his sins. Meanwhile, Miroku notices that the rats are backtracking, as if the demon lure has stopped working.