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High Intellect: Naraku was very intellectual and knowledgeable of the various individuals and powers that existed within the Feudal Era which he could use to his advantage. Whenever there came a hurdle in his pursuit of obtaining a complete corrupt Shikon Jewel that he himself couldn't overcome on his own, Naraku usually set out to gather information and intelligence in order to use them to his advantage. His knowledge and intelligence gathering was as such that he usually knew about a certain individual and their unique abilities some time before he confronted them to make use of them before they even realized it.

Kikyo attacked

The unforgettable tragedy for Kikyō.

Master Manipulator: Naraku was shown to be a master at manipulating demons and humans alike. Throughout the series, he manipulated many people to get what he wanted without getting his own hands dirty. Possibly the most important instance of his manipulation was when he tricked Inuyasha and Kikyō into thinking they had betrayed each other. Naraku transformed into Inuyasha, cut Kikyō down, and fatally wounded her. He then transformed into Kikyō and attacked Inuyasha. This caused Inuyasha to feel resentment toward Kikyō and he went to go steal the Sacred Jewel. Kikyō, in turn, thought that Inuyasha had betrayed her and used the last of her strength and spiritual power to shoot a sealing arrow at Inuyasha, which pinned him to the Sacred Tree for 50 years. This, ultimately, was to make the Sacred Jewel tainted for Naraku and to get rid of both Kikyō and Inuyasha. This one instance put the entire series in motion and set Inuyasha and the others on their quest to destroy him. Though, there were many other instances in the series where Naraku manipulated others. For example, when Naraku offered the Saimyōshō to Sesshōmaru, when he forced a grief-stricken Kōga to confront Inuyasha, and the numerous times that he controlled Kohaku, just to name a few. He even manipulated the Infant and Hakudoshi as unwitting pawns when they rebelled against him, knowing they would from the moment he created the Infant, as an elaborate plan to absorb an extremely powerful Moryomaru.

Master Strategist: Naraku was also very strategic in his pursuit for the Shikon Jewel Shards and for facing off with his enemies. Naraku usually employed the use of Saimyōshō to observe the progress of the various groups in order to effectively delay them as much as possible. There were times when Inuyasha and his group confronted Naraku, however it was often his demon puppets whom the group encountered, and not Naraku himself. Naraku used this as a tactic as a means to gather intelligence about their abilities in order to devise appropriate counter measures.

Swordsman: Naraku had some skills in using a sword as when he manipulated Sango to bring Tessaiga to him at his phantom castle. Naraku was able to easily fend her off by using an ordinary samurai sword and some of his demon powers before Inuyasha and others arrived. Though given that this was the only instance that Naraku had displayed direct combat against his enemies by using his combat skills, it's unknown how proficient he was at swordsmanship.

Expert Spell Caster: Naraku knew many different spells and curses. More often than not Naraku utilizes the power of demonic spells and other magic when combating Inuyasha and his group directly. An example being the Illusionary Death, which was used to distract Inuyasha's group when they tried to rescue Kikyō from him. However while Naraku is proficient in the use dark spells and curses, it's not his primary power to use and thus he required the dark priestess, Tsubaki's help to curse Kagome with an advanced curse.

Wind Tunnel: Naraku's most famous curse that he used to inflict upon Miyatsu and his male descendants to eventually destroy his bloodline. The Wind Tunnel is curse that that forms a void within the right palm of the males born in Miyatsu's bloodline that forever swallows anything in its path in a violent wind turret like a black hole. While early the size the Wind Tunnel is small but with time grows larger until it devours the bearer themselves.

Demon Puppets: One of Naraku's trademark spells are conjuring demon puppets which resembled him in his baboon pelt. Naraku controlled them from afar and could see through their eyes. They were mostly made of mud and soil, and were able to spring roots in order to attack opponents. They would only disappear if their heart was destroyed, which was a golem with a piece of Naraku's hair that was wrapped around it. Following Mount Hakurei, Naraku no longer employed the usage of demonic puppetry as he could survive attacks that would have killed him in the past.

Shikigami Practitioner: This power was only displayed in the PlayStation 2 RPG InuYasha game, InuYasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask. Naraku obtained this power by deceiving Utsugi, a 'hitogata' duplicate of the original Utsugi, who was created by the priest Kakuju to ease his/her suffering when his/her real wife/husband died. Utsugi, the hitogata, required the soul of a relative of the real Utsugi, and a large portion of the Shikon Jewel, which Naraku provided, and helped in retrieving shards from Kōga to become a true, live human. When Naraku supposedly died, with the jewel in hand, at the hands of Inuyasha & co, the leftover jewel was retrieved by Utsugi behind the scenes. When Utsugi finally retrieved the soul she/he needed, which as it turned out was Kakuju's, Naraku's voice began echoing from the Sacred Jewel, and Naraku took over Utsugi's body rather than absorbing her/him to acquire her shikigami-channeling powers. Naraku became able to use the destructive power of an unknown variety of shikigami, and would time-to-time spout out a long verse when he attacked during the fight in the game. Because this only happened in a game that was based on the anime and the events of the game strayed away from the actual ending of the anime/manga, this power was non-canon.

Saimyosho1

\* Saimyōshō

Saimyōshō Control: Naraku's minion wasps from Hell. He kept a hive of them with him at all times. Their most common use for preventing the Wind Tunnel from being used, or for poisoning the descendants of monk Miyatsu, who were unfortunate or foolish enough to suck them in. They were also useful for spying on Naraku's enemies, communicating with his subordinates, and gathering Jewel Shards. Their stings were fatally toxic to both humans and demons alike, but they were rather weak as far as demons went. Many of them were killed by Inuyasha and his group.

Shape-Shifting: Naraku could take the form of anyone or anything that he chose, usually a humanoid, and change his voice along with his physical appearance. He possessed the young lord, Kagewaki, and remained in that standard form for the rest of the series. We're told by Miroku that every time his grandfather battled Naraku, the demon appeared in a different form, being defeated when Naraku took the form of a beautiful young woman. The most important instance of his shape-shifting would be the time that Naraku had disguised himself as Kikyō & Inuyasha and made them hate one another. As his scent didn't change with his form, Naraku ceased using this ability as Inuyasha and Kōga could smell his scent.

Enhanced Strength: Much like Sesshōmaru, Naraku was far stronger than a normal demon being capable of demolishing boulders and the surrounding area though he seldom resorted to combating with physical strength.

Enhanced Speed: Naraku could move faster than the eye could see, both in the air and on the ground. He managed to fight against Inuyasha and his group many times through his natural speed, though he usually retreated after a short time.

Flight: Similarly to Sesshōmaru, Naraku possessed the ability to float midair, and to ride upon a cloud of his own shōki. After his transformation into a full yōkai, Naraku never chose to employ his shōki-sustained flight, but flew only by the strength of his will, while in his barrier.

Absorption: Naraku was able to absorb other demons into his body, adding their powers and their bodies to his own. This was primarily how he gained strength, by seeking out and absorbing strong demons, and giving him access to their powers. The process dissolves and kills the demons he absorbs, as specified when he tries to absorb Koga. He could even absorb other demons like him from the inside. Naraku could also expel weaker body parts in order to rid himself of them.

Demon Parts: As he was made up of multiple demons in one body, Naraku was able to manipulate their body parts at will in order to restructure and strengthen his body, and he could also regenerate himself from injury and reform his body parts if they were cut off. He most commonly used these parts to form tentacles which he used to attack. His possible true form before reconstruction contains many tentacles and demon parts. In his reconstructed form, he primarily attacks by extending the various spikes on his body, and can also manifest teeth on his tails and stretch them to try to bite his opponents.

Incarnation Creation: Naraku could make incarnations out of his own body to do his dirty work for him. Most had a spider mark on their back which was a result of being born from Naraku when he still was a hanyō with Onigumo inside him. He often removed their hearts to ensure loyalty with the price of death for disobedience.

Energy Blast: Naraku sent out one or more of the horns on his elbows in a zigzag beam attack or extended his fingers into tentacles with a glowing attack at the tip of his fingers to attack his foe(s). In the manga, this attack was of a silverish color, while in the anime it was of a purple color.

Armor Shell: Upon absorbing Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the Armor Shell of Meiōjū, being able to change its size for his own purposes. He also gained the ability to cover himself at will with Mōryōmaru's impenetrable shell. It was revealed that Naraku was hiding the Shikon Jewel underneath that shell.

Live Body Pieces: After absorbing the Infant/Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the haku puppet's ability to remotely control his flesh and send them out to scout for other demons whose abilities could prove useful. Naraku used this ability to detach his head while using his Spider Webs, which made it easier for him to flee. It was also used when Naraku had several of his tentacles and other excessive appendages attack Kohaku for his shard. It was presumably what allowed his armored copies to move without being directly connected to him.

Spider Webs: Following his re-absorption of Onigumo's heart a second time, Naraku gained the ability to create threads of spider silk. Only those of high spiritual power, such as Kikyō and Kagome could see them at all times; Naraku could make the webs visible at will if he wanted. Anyone whose heart was corrupt would easily be caught in the webbing, which allowed Naraku to further defile their hearts if he wished. He could also show them illusions. The appearance of this ability further nodded toward his nature as a spider half-demon. In his final transformation, Naraku created a giant body in the shape of a spider, which could, obviously send out threads of spider web to ensnare other demons to add to his body. Naraku used these spider webs to further poison Kikyō, who had not fully recovered from his attempt on her life at Mount Hakurei, which ultimately led to her final death.

Psionics: Naraku was shown using various psychic powers and capabilities; including levitation, telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, mind control, illusion-casting, and astral projection.

Immense Demonic Power: As Naraku started off as a spider hanyo who came into existence from the merging of many demons with a human, he didn't have much demonic power. Throughout the course of the series, as he continued collecting more Shikon Jewel Shards and absorb many demons whether they be ordinary or powerful, Naraku's own demonic powers in turn increased significantly. This was demonstrated on the fact that after he had obtained his new body in Mt. Hakurei, Naraku was able to overpower the strength of the Kaze no Kizu which in turn allowed him to take control of it and managed to evenly combat against Sesshomaru alone while in the Border to the Netherworld for some time though it was only because of his barrier that he was able to last that long against the older Daiyokai. After feeding his soul to the complete corrupt Shikon Jewel in the final battle against all of his enemies, Naraku gained the ability to combat against all of them at the same time with little effort which included Inuyasha with his new power in Tessaiga and Sesshomaru using Bakusaiga for a prolonged period time so that his severed body could destroy Kaede's Village.

Barrier: The most well known and signature ability of Naraku was his barrier which prevented the foe from finding and/or attacking him. At first his barrier was only useful in hiding his presence. As he gathered more shards of the jewel, Naraku became powerful enough to erect a barrier strong enough to survive the Kaze no Kizu. After Naraku had purged his human heart, the barrier became so powerful that nothing but the Kongōsōha and Kikyō's Sacred Arrow was able to penetrate it.

See also: Naraku's Barrier

Naraku Barrier Hakurei

Naraku's Barrier on Mt. Hakurei.

Deflection: Whenever someone sent an attack of yōki into Naraku's barrier, he could channel the flow of the attack into his own jaki and then attack his opponents with it. However, this could only be done with attacks that could not penetrate his barrier, which meant that it was useless against Inuyasha's Kongōsōha.

High-Speed Regeneration: Naraku could quickly heal his own wounds and also put back together severed pieces of his body. He could control 100% of his body all the time, even when his body parts or even head were severed, which came in handy when he was trying to absorb someone. However, there was a limit to how much he could regenerate. The more damage that he took, the more time he would need later on to recover. Too much damage could kill him, which was why he had to flee from his enemies in the beginning of the series. Usually, he would absorb demons to speed up his regeneration process.

Immortality: After he created his new body and removed his heart, which came out as the Infant, Naraku was able to regenerate no matter how much damage his body had taken since his life force wasn't in his body. In fact, this new form of regeneration that Naraku gained caused Kikyo to believe that the only way to destroy him was to utterly destroy his very being and that was by purifying his soul through purifying the last corrupt Shikon Jewel Shard that he had harbored in his body. After Naraku detached himself from his body and merged with the complete corrupt Shikon Jewel, he was able to recover from nearly any damage that was dealt to him including direct hits from Inuyasha's new Meido Zangetsuha and Sesshomaru's new Bakusaiga (that had the special property of spreading damage and thus was the bane of Naraku). In this final form, Naraku was only vanquished when Kagome, with her full spiritual powers, purified him by shooting a final sacred arrow through the Shikon Jewel.

Human/Demon Shift: Unlike Inuyasha, who was forced to become fully human on the night of the new moon every month, Naraku, as a half-demon with Onigumo inside him, could choose what time of the month that he lost all of his powers. Unlike Inuyasha who became a normal human, Naraku was merely a human head that was attached to a mass of yōkai parts during this time, which he used to experiment with his body and rid himself of any unnecessary parts. Since the events that transpired on Mt. Hakurei, Naraku no longer had to become human at any time.

Miasma Manipulation: Naraku's trademark, a poison which killed anything that touched it. It's what made his poisonous gas. Naraku used it to cover his entrances and exits, and could 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, poisoned him, and ultimately lead him to remove it with the help of Kagome. Naraku's body was filled with it, which was why when a foe bit him or even touched him he/she got poisoned. Later on, as his power grew upon his transition to full demon, Naraku's shōki was able to take on a liquid form and acted like a river of acid. His shōki was so strong that it allowed him to break away pieces of the nearly completed Shikon no Tama to use in his schemes. In the current manga, he could melt entire mountains. Over time, his shōki had become so dangerous that after he infected Kikyō with it, neither Kagome nor Kikyō's purification powers seemed to be able to purify it. Kikyō absorbed Midoriko's soul in order to protect herself, but she commented that she didn't know how long Midoriko's power could last against Naraku's venom in the regard that she and Midoriko remained at the same strength while Naraku continued to increase in power. Eventually, even the influence of Midoriko was nullified with Naraku's absorption of the tree demon and Mōryōmaru.

Phantom Castle: Naraku was seen having the ability to create various "Phantom Castles" as temporary headquarters throughout the series. After being nearly killed by the Red Tessaiga, Naraku abandoned the usage of these castles, and decided to be constantly on the move to avoid being found.

Dormancy/Pseudocidal Ability: Naraku had the ability to hide himself within one of his servants and make it appear as though he had disappeared, or have been killed. A simple task; he got himself "killed" and hid within the body of a servant of his choice. The only instance we saw this was in the second movie, InuYasha: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass. During the first battle, Naraku was shattered by Sango's Hiraikotsu, which was embedded with Miroku's shakujō, and received a direct hit in the chest with both Inuyasha's Wind Scar and Kagome's arrow simultaneously, blowing him to pieces. In reality, he was purposely faking his "death", so that he could lure Kaguya out, and hid himself inside of Kohaku. To further this scheme, Naraku also made Miroku's Kazaana disappear and returned Kagura's heart to her. To everyone's surprise, he eventually emerged out from Kohaku's shoulder in order to absorb Kaguya and her demonic energy to strengthen his own powers.

This type of Haki grants the user the ability to dominate the wills of others. The most common usage of it shown in the series so far is using it to exert the user's willpower onto those with weak wills and rendering them unconscious.[3][6] Whilst inexperienced users are restricted to merely overpowering the will of one individual or blindly knocking out weak-willed people around them, those with more expertise can pick out weak-willed individuals in a large group and knock them out without affecting the others.[7] However, those with stronger wills can resist or even ignore the effects of Haoshoku Haki. The ability to knock someone out depends on the difference in strength between the person using the Haki and the person or persons the user is trying to knock out. The greater the power gap, the easier it is to knock the victim out.[8] According to Rayleigh, while this type of Haki cannot be attained through training, it can be improved upon through strengthening the will of the user. It seems that upon recovery, victims of Haoshoku Haki experience the sensation of chills running through their body. However, it presumably wears off after a short period. One can also use Haoshoku Haki to destroy things as seen by Shanks when he was able to crack a part of Whitebeard's ship using his Haki.

Strengths & DrawbacksEdit

One of the main advantages of this form of Haki is that it can be used to knock weak willed people out without physically harming them such as when Luffy used it to knock out the Fishmen Island civilians who mistakenly believed he had kidnapped Princess Shirahoshi. It also allows the user to avoid having to fight with people weaker than themselves avoiding unnecessary conflict by ending a fight before it starts, such as when Luffy used it to knock out Demaro Black and the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates. As shown with Luffy's use of it on the New Fishman Pirates, this form of Haki can also be used to reduce an enemy's manpower.

However these advantages only apply to weak willed people, as shown by Luffy's use during the Whitebeard War, while Luffy was able to knock out weak willed Marines like Jango, the Marines with stronger wills like Fullbody were able to remain conscious.

Another advantage is a proficient user like Luffy can use it to tame powerful and dangerous animals, allowing the user to pacify ferocious beasts such as the Kraken or Fighting Bull while turning them into powerful allies.

Other InformationEdit

There have been two ways in which this Haki has been used. The first and most common way is in a quick burst that will knock out those with weaker wills relatively easily.[4][5][7] The second method is to release it continuously, which will not only knock out those of weak wills around the user, but also put pressure on the surroundings, actually affecting other physical objects besides living beings.[3] It also has been shown that light bursts of Haoshoku Haki can be used in order to tame or intimidate creatures, and exhibit the users' superiority over the beast(s).[1][9]

Haoshoku Haki Clash

The shockwave-like effects of clashing Haoshoku Haki users.

It has also been shown that when two users of this Haki clash, it causes a rippling or shock wave effect cracking the air similar to the Gura Gura no Mi. The shock waves from the Haoshoku Haki clash between Luffy and Chinjao were strong enough to blast people out of the coliseum arena into the water below. The Haoshoku Haki clash between Luffy and Doflamingo produced shockwaves that pushed Trebol and Law's incapacitated body away from them.

“ It is proof of one who has the qualities of a king! ”

— Trebol.[10]

According to Trebol, Haoshoku Haki is proof of an individual who possesses the qualities of a king, a candidate chosen by heaven.[10] Indeed, most of the people who have been shown to possess Haoshoku Haki (aside from Luffy and the non-canon Naguri) share a royal position or epithet or attained some highly respected status, which indicate their dominating role:

Boa Hancock, also known as the Pirate Empress, is Amazon Lily's ruler, a member of the Oka Shichibukai (Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea) and captain of the Kuja Pirates.

Charlotte Linlin is Totto Land's queen, one of the Yonko, and captain of the Big Mom Pirates. She is also the matriarch of the Charlotte Family.

Chinjao was a Don before passing the title to Sai. He is the leader of the Chinjao family and former 12th Admiral of the Happo Navy.

Donquixote Doflamingo is the former king of Dressrosa, a former member of the Oka Shichibukai and captain of the Donquixote Pirates, as well as a former World Noble and the most influential person in the Underworld.

Edward Newgate was one of the Yonko (Four Emperors) and captain of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Portgas D. Ace, being the son of the Pirate King, can metaphorically be considered a prince, and also misunderstood by the world at large that Whitebeard intended to make him the successor. He was also captain of the Spade Pirates earlier, later became commander of second division of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Shanks is one of the Yonko and captain of the Red Hair Pirates. He also served as an apprentice under the late Pirate King and inherited Roger's Straw Hat which he later gave to Luffy.

Silvers Rayleigh has the epithet of "Dark King". He was also the right-hand of the late Pirate King.

While this is shown to be a very rare gift among the world as a whole, it is noted by Don Chinjao that the New World is filled with numerous others who possess the ability to use this Haki. He explains that Luffy will most certainly encounter them and fight them for the title of Pirate King