"Sesshomaru, give Inuyasha a good beating for me. Ideally, find out what new ability that Demon Sword has gained. Heh heh heh, with me as Tessaiga's master, you should have no options left, should you?"
By then, Naraku had recovered most of the way.
That was largely thanks to Manganomaru stirring up trouble and drawing out many demons lurking in the Wilderness Forest.
Quite a few of them were three-star and four-star demons.
Using his Wooden Puppets, Kagura, Kanna, and his army of Saimyosho, Naraku had seized the opportunity to hunt down a fair number.
Of course, his greatest gain had come from the incarnation he had split off, "Musō."
Musō was Bandit Onigumo's human heart, harboring his boundless longing for Kikyo. After giving Musō several days of freedom to deepen his possessive desire for Kikyo before taking him back, Naraku suddenly discovered that the connections within his Myriad Demon Body had been strengthened to an inconceivable degree.
The quality of his demon power had changed along with them.
It could be considered an unexpected bonus.
In addition, a month earlier, he had broken human seals in various places and gathered all sorts of demons. He had used the weaker ones to perform "Witchcraft," successfully cultivating a fairly decent fusion to absorb.
Finally, he had used the few Shikon Shards remaining in his possession for a round of strengthening that was better than nothing.
After all those steps, he had recovered more than half his strength.
His demon power and evil aura had once again reached the level of a second-rate great demon-five-and-a-half-star demon power, in other words.
Through Manganomaru, he had gained a profound understanding of Tessaiga's potential.
In that case, why would he let Tessaiga slip away?
Whether he absorbed Tessaiga directly or used it as his own