If Kimimaro's body once covered in stark white bone spurs had merely inspired fear, then now that those bone spurs had turned gray, they
carried the aura of death.
In truth, compared to the original story where he had followed Orochimaru, Kimimaro was somewhat weaker in this life.
Why was that?
Because in the original story, Orochimaru had planted the Earth Curse Mark in Kimimaro.
And with the second-stage Curse Mark, Kimimaro could force himself to display strength close to Kage-level even while gravely ill.
Even after taking Gaara's ultimate combination attack of Prison Sand Burial and Sand Burial Great Funeral, he could still burst out from two hundred meters underground, ready to deliver a fatal blow to Gaara and Rock Lee.
Unfortunately, he died from a Bloodline Disease outbreak before he could strike.
This showed just how great a boost the Curse Mark could provide.
In this life, because of Soji's intervention, the Kaguya Clan had not been exterminated, and Kimimaro had become his disciple.
That also meant Kimimaro had missed the chance to obtain a Curse Mark, which was why Soji said that Kimimaro was weaker than in the original story.
After all, the boost from a Curse Mark was simply too great!
However, there was one area in which Kimimaro was far stronger than in the original story: his use of the Shikotsumyaku.
With the system's instruction, Kimimaro's mastery of the Shikotsumyaku alone had even surpassed Soji's!
That was evident from Kimimaro's Ancestral Bloodline Regression of the Shikotsumyaku.
Soji had acquired his Shikotsumyaku later in life, while Kimimaro had awakened this bloodline before he was even six years old.
That was why, despite being of mixed blood, he had been brought back to the Kaguya Clan by his father, Kaguya Mei.
The reason was that Kimimaro's talent