Naruto: Is Kimimaro an Otsutsuki? Explained

Naruto's ending had a lot of questionable decisions and something a lot of fans struggled with was the inclusion of Kaguya as the final boss. After most of the final arc was focused on how to defeat Madara Uchiha, there is the revelation of Black Zetsu's betrayal and the twist that Kaguya was always there and the Otsutsuki, people who hailed from the moon, became the main focus. This is something that is seen in Boruto even to this very day.

In that regard, some Naruto fans have defended the Kaguya twist by saying that she had been foreshadowed in the original series through the character of Kimimaro, one of Orochimaru's men in the Sasuke Retrieval arc.

This is because the latter has Kaguya as his last name and some physical similarities. That's why some fans wondered if Kimimaro was an Otsutsuki but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Naruto series.

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Naruto: Explaining why Kimimaro Kaguya isn't an Otsutsuki

Kimimaro was going to be Orochimaru's new body (Image via Studio Pierrot).

There is no denying that Kaguya and the Otsutsuki's inclusion in the final portion of the Naruto series hurt the story, and some people have argued that the franchise hasn't fully recovered ever since.

Be that as it may, the inclusion of Kaguya and her people has raised the question of whether Kimimaro is an Otsutsuki because the latter's clan is the former's name.

To answer from the get-go, no, Kimimaro isn't an Otsutsuki, and beyond some coincidental similarities with Kaguya, there is no connection between the two of them. Nothing has been confirmed about that possible connection in the franchise and author Masashi Kishimoto has never gone on record saying anything about it.

It's a coincidence that took place because the name Kaguya is part of Japanese mythology and folklore, which was a huge source of inspiration for Kishimoto.

However, perhaps the biggest criticism could be the choice of naming the final boss Kaguya if Kishimoto had already named a clan that. There was never an attempt to connect both characters and, to be fair, there was no need to do it, either.

Kimimaro, while a very promising character, never had a major role to play in the story, which would have felt like a lazy attempt to give the final boss twist more validity.

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The promise of the Kimimaro character

One of Naruto's biggest strengths as a series is coming up with a lot of amazing antagonists with strong motivations and backstories, with the likes of Orochimaru, Pain, early days Itachi, and Madara being some of the most prominent examples.

However, most fans always took a liking to Kimimaro and often felt that he could have been a lot more involved in the series.

Kimimaro was supposed to be Naruto's last ordeal before reaching Sasuke but both Rock Lee and Gaara focused on him as the protagonist went after his best friend.

It's during this fight that the viewer discovers Kimimaro's unique bone abilities, that he is the last survivor of his clan, and that he would be Orochimaru's new body if it wasn't for the disease that would end up killing him.

The character had a strong origin story, had a cool design, great abilities, and not even the combined efforts of Gaara and Rock Lee were enough to defeat him. It took that very disease to kill, which goes to show how powerful he was, and is a shame that the story didn't give him more to work with.

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Final thoughts

Kimimaro isn't related to the Otsutsuki and his clan's name is nothing but a coincidence, at least based on what has been shown in the Naruto franchise thus far.

In many ways, this also serves to remind people of how forced Kaguya's inclusion was in the final stretch of the original series.