Kimimaro didn't look well at the moment. His face was sickly, and his body was covered in IV tubes. He looked like he could stop breathing at any second.
Orochimaru had noticed Hao Shuai's expression and explained, "Kimimaro has a hereditary disease. He's almost at death's door."
"A hereditary disease?" Hao Shuai asked, puzzled. "Even you can't cure him?"
"Boss, I may research cloning and cells, but I'm not familiar with medicine or genetics!" Orochimaru said regretfully.
Hao Shuai thought about it and decided that made sense. Otherwise, Orochimaru wouldn't have just stood by and watched his most capable subordinate die.
Actually, Naruto fans had discussed Kimimaro's illness online.
One theory was that Kimimaro hadn't disinfected his bones while reclaiming them, causing a bacterial infection that eventually killed him.
Hao Shuai didn't believe that theory.
If it was just a bacterial infection, he was sure Orochimaru would have found a way to deal with it.
By comparison, Hao Shuai was more convinced by another theory.
The two red dots on Kimimaro's forehead made him look a lot like Kaguya Otsutsuki. He might have been one of her descendants.
And the Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku came from Kaguya Otsutsuki's Kekkei Mōra, the All-Killing Ash Bones.
Anyone pierced by them would begin to crumble from the wound, with the disintegration spreading throughout their body until even their bones were reduced to ash. It was a terrifying ability.
The All-Killing Ash Bones could be understood as an advanced form of Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku, much like the Rinnegan was an advanced form of the Sharingan.
Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku hadn't evolved for two reasons. First, by his generation, the blood of Kaguya Otsutsuki in his veins had grown thin. Second, Kimimaro didn't have an Immortal Body.
But Orochimaru did!
Orochimaru's Curse Mark was actually a low-grade version of