"At that time, Lord Orochimaru said this. People are born into this world carrying some kind of meaning. That's what I believe. There must be some important mission. For me, that mission is to protect Lord Orochimaru and his ambition to the very end!"
As Kimimaro thought this, everyone outside the footage could only feel pity. The meaning of a person's existence was actually to fulfill someone else's ambition?
Yet there were quite a few people like that in the Shinobi World.
In a world torn apart by war, many people were lost when it came to the future.
Nagato, for example. Had he not walked the path of a villain because he had become lost about the future?
At that moment, a tail stretched out from within the sea of sand. Immediately afterward, Kimimaro, now completely transformed into a purple-black demon, burst out of the sand.
He even directly broke through Gaara's Sand Binding. Clearly, at this stage, he had entered the second stage of the Cursed Seal.
Although his appearance was not the same, everyone had already seen it earlier with Uchiha Sasuke. When Uchiha Sasuke entered the second stage, his form had obvious similarities with Kimimaro's current state.
He had also become monster-like, no longer resembling a normal human. Wings had even grown from his back.
As for Kimimaro, a tail had grown from his back.
Considering that Kimimaro had the Earth Curse Mark, which was around the same level as Uchiha Sasuke's, everyone could more or less guess what state he was in right now.
"Orochimaru… just what have you been researching all these years?"
Jiraiya spoke with emotion.
In the video, in order to catch Kimimaro as he lunged toward him, Gaara continuously reached out with Sand Binding. But Kimimaro was clearly faster, and Gaara simply could not react in time.
It was only Taijutsu, yet in Kimimaro's hands, it displayed astonishing power.
In an instant, he broke through the sand barrier and sent Gaara flying.
"The legendary Absolute Defense is only this much?"
With his rapidly increased speed and terrifying strength, Kimimaro's impact was like a semi-truck slamming forward.
"How disappointing."
But the moment his voice fell, he saw fragments of sand falling from Gaara's face. Then he said, "I see. You wrap sand around your body?"
Facing the exchange between these two top-tier fighters, Rock Lee had no way to take part at all. He was swept away by a single tail strike. After entering the second stage, Kimimaro's intimidation and strength had clearly risen by more than just a little.
If Gaara's sand had not blocked it at the critical moment, that one tail strike would have been enough to shatter every bone in Rock Lee's body.
At this moment, Kimimaro looked every bit like a living biological weapon.
And Rock Lee was far from his peak state. He could not even display his most basic speed anymore.
"Annoying sand. First, you, Gaara."
Immediately afterward, everyone saw a terrifying sight. Kimimaro actually pulled out his own spine and used it as a bone sword.
That bizarre scene made everyone's hair stand on end.
They knew the Shikotsumyaku / Dead Bone Pulse Kekkei Genkai was related to bones, but being able to pull out one's own spine and use it as a sword was still far too outrageous.
For Uchiha Sasuke especially, it was an eye-opening sight.
Was this the Kekkei Genkai inherited from Otsutsuki Hamura's line of the Sage's Body? It had clearly surpassed everything he had known before. There were far too many strange Kekkei Genkai in the Shinobi World.
"Dance of the Clematis: Vine!"
In an instant, the huge bone sword whipped out and wrapped around Gaara. Gaara's speed clearly could not compare with a Taijutsu-type ninja's, so he could only take the blow head-on, wrapping himself in sand to resist it.
On the other side, bones grew from Kimimaro's palm, instantly turning his left hand into a massive drill.
"Flower! A bone hardened to its strongest state will pierce through even your sand defense…" As Kimimaro spoke, blood suddenly sprayed from his mouth. "Is there really no time left?"
Only then did everyone remember what Kaede Kitahara had mentioned in the diary. Kimimaro himself had Kekkei Genkai Disease. They had indeed seen this situation before. Uchiha Itachi had also suddenly started coughing blood in the middle of a fight.
Clearly, both of them were extraordinary talents. But precisely because of that, they had developed their Kekkei Genkai far too early and were then consumed by the backlash.
Both had worn their bodies down to the point of total exhaustion while still in their teens.
Uchiha Itachi was already young enough. Kimimaro was even worse. He was only fifteen or sixteen, yet his body could no longer hold out.
Clearly, the Kekkei Genkai passed down from their ancestors was certainly a glory, but behind it came an unimaginable burden.
Gaara naturally would not sit there and wait for death. He directly summoned his strongest defense, Shukaku no Tate. A shield made of sand guarded him from the front, and its shape was precisely that of the One-Tail Shukaku of the Sand.
The Strongest Spear and the Strongest Shield began their clash.
Facing the so-called Strongest Shield, Kimimaro drove his left hand fiercely into it. The massive spear of bone continued grinding forward, but after holding on for only a moment, it shattered inch by inch.
His Strongest Spear could not break Gaara's Strongest Shield. Gaara's Strongest Shield was created by extracting the hardest minerals from underground into sand, then condensing it together with Chakra. Its power simply could not be destroyed by physical attacks.
"That unusual Ninjutsu you use, is it a Kekkei Genkai?" Gaara asked with a frown.
"The Kaguya Clan. Now, it's an ability only I possess," Kimimaro said coldly.
"The last member of a clan?"
"Then today, your clan ends here," Gaara said. This feeling made him seem even more like Uchiha Sasuke.
Even Uchiha Sasuke himself felt that Gaara looked more like him this way. But he would absolutely never allow the bloodline and glory of the Uchiha Clan to end in his hands.
"You could say that. My body is sick, so I might not live much longer. But it won't end. And I'm not alone."
Kimimaro did not avoid the possibility that he might die here.
"I will remain forever and ever in Lord Orochimaru's heart."
"Was he brainwashed by Orochimaru?"
"What an empty person." Gaara began using Ninjutsu. The sand beneath Kimimaro's feet began to loosen. "I've used too many major techniques. I don't have that much Chakra left. This is the last move!"
By this point, Gaara was also nearing his limit.
"Only this much? For an ordinary Jonin-level fighter, his amount of Chakra could be called huge. But for a Jinchuriki, his Chakra amount is pitifully small."
Namikaze Minato frowned. Based on his estimate of the scale of the Ninjutsu Gaara had used, it was certainly shocking. But for a Jinchuriki, it should have still been more than enough.
Were Tailed Beasts supposed to be such inconvenient things?
His girlfriend Uzumaki Kushina, as well as his future son Uzumaki Naruto, both had Chakra reserves that were difficult to exhaust, especially when they could draw on the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
"Unless Sunagakure's seal has a problem." Namikaze Minato immediately thought of it.
There was only one possibility. Sunagakure's own sealing ability was too poor. So although they could use a portion of Shukaku's power, they were unable to extract Chakra from Shukaku itself.
Even a Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails needed careful training before being able to do that.
Only that could explain why Gaara was already unable to continue after fighting to this extent.
Although the One-Tail's Chakra amount was nothing compared to the Nine-Tails, it was still at least dozens of times greater than an ordinary Kage Level fighter.
Sunagakure did not have the ability to fully develop and use the One-Tail's Chakra.
Otherwise, Gaara could have continuously used large-scale Ninjutsu on the level of Sabaku Taiso from earlier, easily burying Kimimaro.
A ninja who only knew Taijutsu was certainly powerful and troublesome. But when they ran into a fighter with monstrous chakra reserves, they were still at a huge disadvantage. Especially when that fighter with monstrous chakra reserves also had wide-area Ninjutsu, then they would understand what it meant to be completely finished.
This was only because Kimimaro himself had the Shikotsumyaku / Dead Bone Pulse Kekkei Genkai. If it had been a Taijutsu ninja of around the same level without a Kekkei Genkai, he would have died in Gaara's hands long ago.
At the very least, if it had been Rock Lee, he probably really would have had only death waiting for him.
The others clearly realized this problem too. Gaara's Chakra amount was too small. It did not match his identity as a Jinchuriki.
For a Jinchuriki, all kinds of problems could happen. But not having enough Chakra was probably an extremely rare situation.
At this moment, in the footage, Gaara, who had entered the state of his final strike, directly caused Kimimaro to sink underground.
"What an impressive guy!"
Kimimaro felt as if he had fallen into a quicksand hell, unable to move at all.
"I'm going to sink you two hundred meters underground."
Gaara looked at all of this and spoke coldly. "I'll use the pressure of the sand clinging tightly to your body to make it so you can't even move a finger!"
A moment later, the sand had completely swallowed Kimimaro.
"He did it. This time, he really did it."
Rock Lee spoke in delight.
Yet at that moment, Kimimaro's final voice came from underground.
"Dance, Sawarabi no Mai!"
The moment his voice fell, countless sharp bone spikes erupted directly from the ground, densely spreading in every direction at terrifying speed, forming a horrific forest of bone spikes.
At the critical moment, Gaara lifted himself and Rock Lee into the air with sand, avoiding the fatal blow.
"We're saved. As expected of you, you can even do something like this." Rock Lee spoke in shock.
Just when everyone thought it was about to end, Kimimaro, who had been suppressed underground, actually emerged behind Gaara by traveling along the bones. Holding a bone spike, he stabbed fiercely toward him.