Kimimaro

is the fifth member of the Sound Four, thus temporarily changing their group name to the Sound Five. The original four were forced to accept him against their will, as Kimimaro's combat abilities far exceeded all of their skills combined.

In Japanese, the word kimi may mean "without equal", and the word maro may mean "I" or "myself". Thus, a name is created that loosely translates into, "one who is without equal". This may be a reference to Kimimaro's nearly invincible fighting prowess.

Background
Kimimaro was the sole survivor of the Kaguya clan, who were battle loving barbarians. The Kaguya clan was wiped out when they attacked Kirigakure (seemingly for no reason other than the desire to kill). Having underestimated their opponent's defenses, they were slaughtered to the last man, with only Kimimaro surviving.

Afterward he was found by Orochimaru and recruited as one of his most loyal servants. While belonging to a clan that loves killing, murder, and slaughter, and being the most powerful of this clan, Kimimaro was not truly violent because he never really knew the outside world. Thus, the only reason he fought was because his clan needed him to do so, and being needed by someone was the one thing he truly desired (until he meets Orochimaru, where his desires change to serving him and ensuring the continuation of his master's dreams and ambitions). Kimimaro was selected to be one of Orochimaru's next bodies because of the unparalleled physical abilities he possessed. However, Kimimaro was afflicted by an unknown disease and was no longer useful to Orochimaru.

Personality
Kimimaro has a strong devotion towards Orochimaru, bordering on religious zealotry or considering him a father figure, as Orochimaru was the only person to seemingly care for and inspire him. On his way to Kiri, he encountered Zabuza Momochi and Haku, apparently shortly after they met each other, since Haku is still young. Interestingly, the relationships between Orochimaru and Kimimaro is parallel to that of Zabuza and Haku and to that of Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru in many ways (Raiga and Ranmaru only appear in the anime), as all of them had similar backgrounds and found a purpose in living for another. His dedication to Orochimaru was is so great, that despite his body's failing strength, he was able to will himself into battle and still prove himself an extremely dangerous opponent. Kimimaro was possibly the strongest Mist ninja of his time. His unique abilities gave him both offensive and defensive powers at the same time, similar to Gaara's sand.

Kimimaro demonstrates extreme distaste for "trash" ninja, as he puts it. He generally attempts to "clean it up", by killing the person who is "trash", even if they are an ally (he plotted to kill Tayuya after she defeated Shikamaru because she was unable to deliver Sasuke by sunset). Despite his verbal disrespect of his opponents, Kimimaro has shown to have a sense of honor in battle, as demonstrated when he stopped the battle to allow Rock Lee to take his "medicine". The most notable trait that separates him from his four colleagues is rarely showed emotions other than surprise until Gaara insulted his faith in Orochimaru; causing to become enraged up until his death.

Appearance
Kimimaro has been described as having an intimidating and intelligent appearance, his eyes always silently analyzing and observing his opponent. Even in battle, he sustains his calm and confident composure. He is a decently tall shinobi, with visible musculature and a swift, graceful manner of movement. Because of his illness, however, Kimimaro's original physical capabilities cannot be confirmed.

He is characterized by his pale skin, vivid green eyes, masculine facial features, and shoulder-length white hair, which he wears divided down the middle (distinguished by an atypical 'zig-zag' hair part) with two separate partings on either side of his face. His most characteristic features, however, may in fact be his unusual maro mayu markings, which appear as red curves framing the bottom of his eyes, and dual crimson dots adorning his brow. The maro mayu eye markings appears to be a distinctive clan feature, unique to members of the Kaguya clan. However, because Kimimaro is the last of his clan, he alone possesses these markings.

As a child, Kimimaro wore his hair longer, tied in a loose pony-tail near the middle of his back, through the initial style was very similar to his current one. Also note that, when he was younger, Kimimaro's eye markings were far less noticeable than when he was older. This might suggest that the maro mayu markings grow in visibility over time. However, the question of whether this increase in visibility is due to age, amount of chakra, or something else entirely, remains unanswered.

Under the wing of Orochimaru, Kimimaro wore a specialized version of the traditional Sound-nin ensemble, consisting of a light lavender, loose-fitting, long-sleeved, zip-up shirt, black pants cut off around mid-calf, bandages wrapped around his ankles, traditional shinobi sandals, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist. He also wore two red, tube-like hair ornaments; one on either side of his head securing two locks of his silvery-white hair.

It is unknown why Kimimaro did not wear a Sound headband, or any other form of symbolic affiliation to Orochimaru. Having assumed that his deep-seated loyalty to Oto and Orochimaru would have inspired him to outwardly display such loyalty in the form of an emblazonment, the reasons why he did not are unknown, though all of the other members of the Sound Five also didn't wear headbands, with the exception of Kidomaru. He does however, wear the purple "rope" belt that most Otogakure ninja wear. (Note that this is only speculation).

Also, many fans have mistaken Kimimaro's age due to his 'older', less childish and more mature appearance, often believing him to be in his early twenties. However, this is untrue, and he is indeed only in his mid-teens, fifteen years old to be exact.

Chunin Exams
During his fight with Lee, it is revealed in a flashback that Kimimaro participated in many of Orochimaru's schemes, amongst other killing a Grass ninja named Shiore and her companions, (Orochimaru would later impersonate Shiore during the second part of the exam) and being at least partly responsible for the death of the Fourth Kazekage and his bodyguards. At this point he finally succumbed to his fatal illness, that in turn would have Kabuto placing him in an intense medical care to keep him alive for as long as possible.

Sasuke Retrieval
Kimimaro dies while attempting to bring Sasuke to Orochimaru as a way to end his life and thank Orochimaru for his doing. He succeeds in taking the barrel Sasuke was in, but Naruto Uzumaki caught up with him to take Sasuke back. Kimimaro easily holds off Naruto until Sasuke can get away on his own. Rock Lee (after recently having surgery), saves Naruto seconds before Kimimaro can kill him. However, Kimimaro easily defeats Lee, even after Lee (accidently) attempted the Drunken Fist style of taijutsu (which is the ability for ninja to power up by drinking alcohol). Once again Kimimaro is about to kill his opponent when Gaara arrives and saves him, who appeared as a result of renewed relations between Sunagakure and Konohagakure. Though Gaara's spectacular sand attacks manage to hold off Kimimaro a bit, Kimimaro's second state of the Cursed Seal crushes all resistance. After Gaara's ultimate attack, which essentially turned the whole battlefield into a plain of sand, Kimimaro uses the last one of his dances to turn the battlefield into a forest of bones. However, he succumbs to his illness just before he could kill Gaara, who is already out of chakra. Gaara later comes to the conclusion that no one can defeat loneliness, even if it means to care for an evil person like Orochimaru. Gaara comments that Kimimaro had the same eyes as Sasuke, which say (so to speak) "I want to confirm the value of my existence." It is later revealed that he was with Orochimaru when he managed to trick some of the Fūma clan into joining with him sometime prior to his invasion upon Konoha.

Gathering of Team Snake
Kimimaro was mentioned by Jugo of Team Snake when he was fighting Sasuke, as Jugo claimed Sasuke and Kimimaro were the strongest opponents he has ever battled. Kimimaro was also capable of controlling Jugo's berserk rages without having to face him in battle, which made Jugo care for Kimimaro as a friend (and the reverse was true as well, since Kimimaro thanked Jugo since it was mainly his abilities that made Kimimaro's so great). Jugo's reasons for joining Team Snake include the fact that, after hearing that Kimimaro had died to ensure Sasuke reaching Orochimaru, he believed that Kimimaro's spirit continued to live on in Sasuke (despite how one major difference between Sasuke and Kimimaro was that Sasuke had no care for Orochimaru at all, and only went to him in search for more power).

Abilities
Kimimaro was also referred to by Orochimaru as the most powerful member of the Kaguya clan, having "abilities that even his war loving clan feared". Because of this, he was locked away in a cage for most of his life, only released occasionally when needed to fight other clans. His fighting abilities far outclassed all the members of the Sound Four combined. Another feat demonstrating his tremendous power was his capability of easily stopping Jugo whenever he would go on a rampage. His abilities made him well suited for close-range combat fighting, demonstrating tremendous taijutsu skills combined with equally impressive speed and dexterity, all of which outclassed Rock Lee's skills. Another example of his taijutsu prowess was when he went up against Demon Fox Form Naruto as he was able to defeat several hundred shadow clones effortlessly without breaking a sweat, after doing so, Naruto had also mentioned that not one of his attack's got through to him. He was also able to both dodge and attack Gaara at the same time who was sending waves of sand at him in mid-air. According to Rock Lee, Kimimaro's close-range fighting allows him to easily dodge without a single wasted movement. He was also shown to be capable of fighting a mid and long-distance as well. His abilities come from his Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline) Shikotsumyaku, which allows the user to manipulate their own skeletal structure as a means of combat. Specifically, it allowed Kimimaro to combine his chakra with calcium, making his bones flexible. Kimimaro also stated, that his bones are stronger than steel. Kimimaro used this ability to wield his bones as weapons in battle, and could put them in the forms of taijutsu attacks (which he called dances) to give him a variety of abilities. Like many others of Orochimaru's closest followers, Kimimaro was given a Cursed Seal, which grants him tremendous power. He bears the Cursed Seal of Earth, which is said to be equal in power to the Heaven cursed Seal branded on Sasuke Uchiha and Anko Mitarashi. When in his Level 2 form, his appearance is similar to that of a dinosaur, with dark gray skin, six large bone spines protruding out of his back, and a long bone spiked tail. He also appears to have much greater control over his seal than any other character seen so far (with perhaps the exception of Sasuke who was able to actually perform partial transformations), since he was able to restrict its spread to his chest in order to grant him a greater surge of power without activating it fully. Despite his incredible power, Kimimaro eventually became far less useful to Orochimaru after an unknown disease left him bedridden. However, even with one foot on the grave, he was still easily proved to be a very dangerous opponent, as shown by his capability of easily holding off Demon Fox Form Naruto (who had the strength and speed that easily put him on par with any Jonin level ninja), and intoxicated Lee (even Might Guy, a High-Level Jonin of Konoha admitted that Lee was very dangerous in his intoxicated state), and Gaara (who was quite possibly the strongest shinobi in Sunagakure at the time). It should be noted that Kimimaro was never actually defeated in battle by Naruto Uzumaki, Rock Lee or Gaara and would not have lost if not for his disease.

Quotes

 * "Orochimaru Sama!"
 * "Tayuya... the reason I've yet to kill you is... you still have a mission to accomplish by staying alive. Please, take out the trash over there."
 * "There sure seems to be a lot of garbage lying around... But in the end, trash is still just trash."
 * "Unorthodox, aren't I?"
 * "And then there was one." ( to Naruto, after destroying all his Shadow Clones )
 * "This is... my Kekkei Genkai."
 * "If I can't be of any use, then there's no reason for me to live."
 * "It's not brainwashing! Orochimaru-sama... is all my own reasoning!! What the hell would you know about it?!"
 * " That's what Orochimaru Sama said to me that day, but... people are born for a reason... that's what I think... they have something they're meant to do with their lives... and I am no different... I was put on this earth to protect lord Orochimaru and his ambitions."

Trivia

 * Though some fans believe that his full name is Kimimaro Kaguya, the second databook only says his name as: Kimimaro.
 * Most of Kimimaro's personal history (his brief encounter with Zabuza and Haku, meeting Orochimaru and the slaugther at Kiri, killing Team Shiore and later the Fourth Kazekage, etc) was filler material created for the anime and was not found anywhere in the manga.

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