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According to the wiki,

Shikotsumyaku (屍骨脈; Literally meaning "Dead Bone Pulse", Meaning (Viz) "Corpse Bone Chain") is the kekkei genkai of the extinct Kaguya clan, which gave them the ability to manipulate their own skeletal structure (their osteoblasts and osteoclasts). By infusing their calcium with chakra, they could manipulate the growth and properties of their bones to their liking.

Now, surely that means that they're working with the base amount of calcium (and other minerals) in their body. The fact that they're able to grow their own bones seems to indicate that they are able to get the calcium (and other minerals) out of their nearby surrounding in some manner. Is this corroborated in the manga?

The last part is just my own speculation. Please do correct me if an alternate explanation exists.

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    It's never mentioned. What you quoted is everything that was explained; and the human body can't produce calcium on his own (normally), so I guess that your speculation could be correct.
    – looper
    Jan 22, 2013 at 2:58
  • Thanks for the comment. I was hoping that there was some additional information in the manga or the data books.
    – Chetter Hummin
    Jan 23, 2013 at 3:39

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According to what is said here, those who posses the Shikotsumyaku are able to create bones by manipulating

their own skeletal structure (their osteoblasts and osteoclasts). By infusing their calcium with chakra, they could manipulate the growth and properties of their bones to their liking.

From what I can gather (given that I am not an orthopedist, and have no knowledge in this field) osteoclasts and osteoblasts are instrumental in controlling the amount of bone tissue: osteoblasts form bone, osteoclasts resorb bone (meaning they break down bone and release their minerals, which results in a transfer of calcium from bone fluid to the blood).

I think this part would explain how he is able to create bones in itself.
However, after reading the first comment you left in Curtis Sumpter's answer (Fair enough. But the human body just doesn't have enough calcium for his jutsus.), I've tried to understand how calcium is regulated in the human body. I came to the conclusion that parathyroid hormone and calcitonin are the hormones that regulate the calcium levels in the body, the former acting to increase the concentration of calcium in the blood and the latter to decrease it. Perhaps he had some type of deficiency in the way he metabolised calcium, which could have lead to hypercalcaemia. Some of the symptoms seem to match Kimimaro's, namely fatigue, abnormal heart rate, vomiting (he coughed blood, I'm not sure if it counts in the same way...) and he ended up dying of cardiac arrest. If this were the case, the fact that he is able to manipulate osteoclasts and osteoblasts may be a result of his abnormally high levels of calcium in the first place. This could also be the reason for it to be such a rare Kekkei Genkai, even among members of the Kaguya clan. It could be something like a Potential Bloodline or a Genetic Advantage (or disadvantage, since he ended up dying of it, if this speculation is correct).
As far as real-world actual explanations go, with my limited level of knowledge, this is as far as I can go (and still, an orthopedist may look at my explanation and find it a lot of humbug).

On the other hand, the explanation provided in the Wiki also says that, aside from manipulating the osteoclasts and osteoblasts, they infuse their calcium with chakra. So this completely ruins real-world actual explanations, since it introduces a completely different (and actually nonexistent, AFAIK) circulatory system. This means two things: firstly, it introduces a new variable, that potentially renders all of my above possibilities moot; and secondly, that the infusion of chakra into calcium could actually modify its properties somehow (this is actually contained in the first thing, but nevermind...). This last paragraph could actually mean something like: don't overthink it, it's just a cartoon... :D

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Kimimoro's Kekkai Genkai isn't like Gaara's sand. Gaara's sand can go underground, smash the rocks, and use the hardened minerals from the local rocks and incorporate them into his sand. Kimimoro doesn't seem to do this at all, but rather his bones and chakra system is all internal.

I think this is evidenced not by what he does but by what he doesn't do. In his battle with Gaara which is clearly his most pressing battle (since he dies in it) he transforms multiple times, he uses his spine whip, and does a number of other jitsu but never absorbs from his exterior surrounds while Gaara clearly does.

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  • Fair enough. But the human body just doesn't have enough calcium for his jutsus.
    – Chetter Hummin
    Jan 23, 2013 at 16:52
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    Yeah. But that's like saying the Nara clan's bodies just don't produce enough darkness to make shadows. They use their chakra to create darkness (shadows) like Kimimoro's body uses his chakra to create calcium.
    – Curtis Sumpter
    Jan 23, 2013 at 17:09
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    @CurtisSumpter: They don't create darkness, they just control them. You can read that in the manga, when Shikamaru battles Temari. Kimimaro however, creates new bone(s).
    – looper
    Jan 23, 2013 at 17:19
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    Fair enough. But does Sasuke create fire or does he control it? Isn't Kimimoro just like Sasuke with fire, using his chakra to mold bone as opposed to fire?
    – Curtis Sumpter
    Jan 23, 2013 at 17:32
  • @CurtisSumpter: I get your point (although fire is more like energy; but water is the same) ;). I don't want to say that you're wrong, I'm just not really sure :D.
    – looper
    Jan 23, 2013 at 20:01

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