Benign Atavism

Orochimaru's Lab.

"Lord Shamu."

Kimimaro struggled to sit up, but Shamu pressed him back down.

"Just lie there and rest. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

The moment Kimimaro saw Shamu, his entire body relaxed.

"Lord Shamu, you're back."

Haku carried over some food and set it in front of Kimimaro.

He was also delighted to see Shamu return.

Kimimaro had been lying there without getting up for so long not because his illness had worsened again.

Rather, his body was undergoing benign atavism.

Acquired atavism was extraordinarily rare. After all, Kimimaro was already eighteen.

Logically, this should not have been possible.

But Orochimaru said that compared to other Kekkei Genkai, Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku was extremely unstable.

An unstable bloodline could develop in two directions. One was malignant degeneration: Bloodline Disease.

The other was benign atavism.

In the past, Kimimaro's internal organs had been unable to bear his increasingly corrosive blood.

But after Shamu used his own healing blood to neutralize it, Kimimaro's blood remained highly toxic, while his body was constantly healing itself.

Kimimaro's body was continuously destroyed, then repaired.

Under these circumstances, his body began to undergo a remarkable reaction.

Then Shamu's faked death dealt Kimimaro a mental blow.

Kimimaro's eyes had mutated first, and after they did, his body began reacting as well.

Now, Kimimaro was covered in monitoring equipment.

It was all to determine when his bloodline would stabilize.

Shamu rubbed Kimimaro's head. Looking at his pair of Byakugan, he saw that Kimimaro's temperament had also grown far colder than before.

He was becoming increasingly close to an Otsutsuki Clan member.

Kimimaro's condition was actually not too bad. He merely had a slight fever.

But there was too much monitoring equipment attached to him.

That was why Haku had brought the food inside.

"You two eat first.