Name: Naraku


Age: appears 23


Race Type: hanyō

Physical Description:


Origins: There was a man named Onigumo (鬼蜘蛛, おに ぐ も, "demon-spider"), who was full of deceit and hatred for others. He tricked his bandit leader, Rasetsu (the elderly man later on in both manga and anime who gives Kikyo his top knot to be sent to Mount Hakurei in order to purify his soul) into approaching Kikyo and attempt to obtain the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls; however, Onigumo did not warn him that with Kikyo, there was a hanyō named InuYasha. Rasetsu survived the encounter with InuYasha, lost an eye, and returns to camp annoyed to find that Onigumo has made off with his troops. Rasetsu finds Onigumo and his troops at an inn down the road celebrating their change in leadership. Rasetsu blows up the inn, but the charred body of Onigumo somehow manages to survive the blast. Rasetsu throws the barely-living Onigumo off a cliff. (This, however, does not explain the spider scar, as Onigumo had the scar before he met Rasetsu).

By either chance or fate, Onigumo barely survived and was found by Kikyo who slowly nursed him back to the point of being able to speak. Onigumo developed feelings for Kikyo, but knowing that he could not move for the rest of his life, he summoned countless yōkai using his corrupted soul. He then had them devour his body in exchange for giving him a new body with which he could claim Kikyo and the Jewel of Four Souls. Thus the countless yōkai were bound together in a form with Onigumo serving as a connector. (In an anime special, it is implied that a spider-yōkai, which looked like a small replica of Naraku's spider form in the second movie, was the de facto leader of these yōkai.) This resulted in the part-human, part-yōkai Naraku.

Naraku separates himself from his heart, rendering it in two pieces. The physical heart (心臓, shinzō) he imparts to Akago, rendering Naraku effectively immortal unless Akago is destroyed. The spiritual heart, or soul (心, kokoro), which he inherited from the human Onigumo, is discarded inside Hakurei-Zan. This allows Naraku to become stronger, much like a full yōkai. (Comments later made by Abi-Hime and Tekkei revealed that Naraku was still technically a hanyō.) Furthermore, he now possessed an even stronger barrier, which proved impenetrable to anything except for the Tetsusaiga's Kongōsōha

Abilities:

Spoiler:

Saimyōshō Naraku's minion wasps from hell. They are useful for stopping Miroku's Kazaana ("wind void"; Wind Tunnel in the English dub), spying on his enemies, and gathering Jewel shards. Shapeshifting He can take the form anything he chooses (usually a humanoid). He would have a different voice as well. He can also change his body however he wants. This is seen when he fights Sesshomaru in an attempt to absorb him. Yōkai puppets ("demon puppets" in the English dub) Puppets which resemble him. He controls them from afar and can see through their eyes. They are mostly made of mud and soil, and are able to spring roots in order to attack opponents. Superhuman strength and speed Much like Sesshomaru, Naraku is far stronger than a normal demon and can move faster than the eye can see, both in the air and on the ground. Flight Similarly to Sesshomaru, Naraku possesses the ability to float midair, and to ride upon a cloud of his own shoki. After his transformation into a full yokai, Naraku never chose to employ his shoki-sustained flight, but flew only by the strength of his will. Yōkai parts As he is made up of multiple yōkai in one body, Naraku is able to manipulate their body parts at will in order to restructure and strengthen his body, and he can also regenerate himself from injury and reform his body parts if they are cut off. He most commonly uses these parts to form tentacles which he uses to attack. Absorption Naraku is able to absorb other yōkai into his body, adding their powers and body to his own. This is primarily how he gains strength, by seeking out and absorbing strong yōkai, giving him access to their powers. Naraku can also expel weaker body parts in order to rid himself of them. Psionics Naraku has shown using various psychic powers and capabilities; including telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, mind control, illusion-casting, and astral projection. Detachments Makes incarnations out of his own body to do his dirty work for him. Most have a spider mark on their back which is a result of being born of Naraku when he still was a han'yō with Onigumo inside him. After he purged himself of his human presence in the countless lumps of flesh inside Hakurei, he and all his future children were free of having that scar on them. Barrier A barrier which prevents the foe from finding and/or attacking him. At first his barrier was only useful in hiding his presence. As he persevered in absorbing new, stronger demons into his body and discarding the weaker ones, it became powerful enough to survive the Kaze no Kizu, which is why InuYasha needed to obtain blood from the bat yōkai, Taigokumeru, in order to penetrate. After Naraku became a full yōkai (in a sense) the barrier became so powerful that nothing but the Kongōsōha was able to pierce it. Yōki control Whenever someone sends an attack of yōki (yōkai energy) into Naraku's barrier he can channel the flow of the attack into his own jaki (yōki aura) and then attack his opponents with it. However, this can only be done with attacks that cannot penetrate his barrier, which means it's useless against InuYasha's Kongōsōha. Regeneration Naraku can quickly heal his own wounds and also put back together severed pieces of his body. He can control 100% of his body all the time (even when severed), which comes in handy when he is trying to absorb someone. However, there is a limit to how much he can regenerate. The more damage he takes the more time he will need later on to recover. Too much damage can kill him, which is why he had to flee from his enemies in the beginning of the series. Usually, he will absorb yōkai to speed up his regeneration process. However, after he removes his heart, which comes out as Akago, he was able to regenerate no matter how much damage his body took since his life force wasn't in his body. Choosing when to become human Unlike InuYasha, who is forced to become fully human on the first night of a new moon every month, Naraku, as a hanyo with Onigumo inside him, could choose what time of the month he lost all of his powers and became human, although he was merely a human head attached to a mass of yokai parts during this time, which he used to experiment with his body and rid himself of any unnecessary parts. Since the events that have transpired on Mt. Hakurei, he no longer has to become human at any time, being a full-fledged yokai. Beam attack Naraku sends out one or more of the horns on his elbows in a zigzag beam attack or extends his fingers into tentacles with a glowing attack at the tip of fingers to attack his foe(s). In the manga this attack was of a silverfish color and in the anime it is of a purple color. Furthermore, even though this attack is a yōki attack, because Naraku is using his body parts infused with shōki to attack his opponents, InuYasha cannot use his Bakuryūha (Backlash Wave) against it since it counts as a physical attack. Shōki (miasma) This is Naraku's trademark, poison which kills anything that touches it . It is what makes his poisonous gas. Naraku uses it to cover his entrances and exits, and can surround himself with the gas while flying. He created a "false Shikon shard" for Kōga with this substance. It was able to power Kōga in the manga and anime for a while until it backfired, poisoning him, and ultimately leading him to remove it with the help of Kagome. Naraku's body is filled with it, which is why when a foe bites him or even touches him he/she gets poisoned. Later on, as his power grew upon his transition to full yōkai, his shōki is able to take on a liquid form and acts like a river of acid. His shōki is so strong that it allows him to break away pieces of the nearly completed Shikon no Tama to use in his schemes. In the current manga, he can melt entire mountains. Over time his shōki has become so dangerous that after he infects Kikyō with it, neither Kagome nor Kikyo's holy powers seem to be able to purify it. Kikyo absorbs Midoriko's soul in order to protect herself but she comments that she doesn't know how long Midoriko's power can last against Naraku's venom, in the regard that she and Midoriko remain at the same strength while Naraku continues to increase in power. Eventually, even the influence of Midoriko is nullified with Naraku's absorption of the tree and Mōryōmaru. Live Body Pieces After absorbing Akago/Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the power to merge pieces of his body with other yōkai, thus giving him control over them and increasing their regenerative abilities. He can send pieces of his body abroad to scout for new yōkai, for him to add into his body. It is important to note that these pieces, after becoming separate of Naraku's body, became living beings that can move and fight on their own. Phantom Castle Naraku is seen having the ability to create various "Phantom Castles" as a temporary headquarters throughout the series. Dormancy Naraku has the ability to hide himself within one of his servants and make it appear as though he has disappeared, or have been killed, rather. A simple task; he gets himself "killed" and hides within the body of a servant of his choice. To reinforce this fact, he even (although temporarily) removes Miroku's Wind Tunnel and returns Kagura's heart. Black Magic Naraku knows many different spells and curses, a prime example being the Wind Tunnel curse. Armor Shell Upon absorbing Mōryōmaru, he gained the ability to cover himself at will with Mōryōmaru's nigh impenetrable shell. It has been revealed that Naraku is hiding the Shikon Jewel underneath this shell.