Kimimaro

1. 1
   The caged child

   Feared by his own clan

   Kimimaro is born to the Kaguya clan with a power so strong his own family fears it. Rather than raise him, they keep him in a cage, and open it only when a battle needs a weapon.

2. 2
   The clan's end

   The only one left

   The Kaguya clan throws itself at Kirigakure in a pointless show of ferocity, and is wiped out. Kimimaro — the caged one, the one they barely used — is left the sole survivor of his people.

3. 3
   Found by Orochimaru

   A reason to exist

   Kimimaro wanders without purpose until Orochimaru finds him. Orochimaru does not love him — but he wants him, and uses him, and for Kimimaro that is enough. It is the first time anyone has.

4. 4
   Leader of the Sound FiveDebut Arc · Sasuke Recovery Mission

   Orochimaru's most loyal

   Kimimaro rises as the most devoted of Orochimaru's ninja, leading the elite guard known as the Sound Five. His loyalty is total — there is nothing of himself he will not spend on his master.

5. 5
   The terminal illness

   The vessel that cannot be

   A disease begins to consume Kimimaro from the inside. It ends any hope of his being Orochimaru's next vessel — the one use he most wanted to be put to is taken from him.

6. 6
   Death at the last instant

   One moment too soon

   Dying, Kimimaro still fights — overwhelming Rock Lee, then Gaara. His illness takes him at the exact instant he would have landed the killing blow on Gaara, his purpose unfinished to the very end.

Kimimaro fought at close range, and he fought with his own skeleton. Shikotsumyaku gave him absolute control over his bones — their shape, their density, their growth — so he could draw blades from his arms, fire bone projectiles, and harden his body past most weapons. Around that he built a set of named "dances," taijutsu forms so precise that Rock Lee, a master himself, called Kimimaro one too.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Kimimaro?+

  Kimimaro is the last survivor of the Kaguya clan and one of Orochimaru's most loyal shinobi. He led the Sound Five, and fought with Shikotsumyaku, the Kekkei Genkai that let him wield his own bones as weapons.
• What is Shikotsumyaku?+

  Shikotsumyaku is the Kaguya clan's Kekkei Genkai. It let Kimimaro control the cells that build and break down bone, giving him absolute command of the density and shape of his skeleton — and the ability to draw bone weapons from his body.
• Why was Kimimaro caged by his own clan?+

  The Kaguya clan patriarch feared the strength of Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku. Rather than raise him, the clan kept Kimimaro locked in a cage, letting him out only when a battle needed his power.
• How did Kimimaro die?+

  Kimimaro did not die in battle. A terminal illness had been consuming him throughout the Sasuke Recovery Mission arc. His body finally gave out at the very instant he was about to land a killing blow on Gaara.
• Why was Kimimaro so loyal to Orochimaru?+

  Kimimaro spent his whole life with no purpose and no one who wanted him — caged by his clan, then orphaned by its fall. Orochimaru gave him a reason to exist, and Kimimaro repaid that with total, unquestioning devotion.
• Has Kimimaro been a Narutodle answer?+

  Kimimaro is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date he was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Kimimaro in Narutodle?+

  Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku is the giveaway — a Kekkei Genkai unique to the Kaguya clan. His Kaguya clan is rare, his Otogakure village is uncommon, and his Nature column runs Water, Wind, and Yang.