editRōshi
(老紫, Rōshi) Rōshi of the Lava Release (熔遁の老紫, Yōton no Rōshi)[1]
Debut
Manga	Chapter #353
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #121
Game	Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Impact
Appears in	Anime, Manga and Game
Voice Actors
Japanese	Shigenori Sōya (Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3)
English	Chris Edgerly (Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3)
Personal
Gender	Male
Status	Deceased
Classification	Jinchūriki
Tailed Beast	Son Gokū (Forms)
Affiliation	Iwagakure
Nature Type Lava Release Earth Release Fire Release
Jutsu Flower–Fruit Mountain Lava Release Armour (Manga only) Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique (Manga only) Monkey Flame Release

Rōshi (老紫, Rōshi) was the jinchūriki of Son Gokū, the Four-Tails, that hailed from Iwagakure. The Four-Tails has been captured and sealed by Akatsuki, causing his death when the beast was extracted. However, upon his reincarnation, the Four-Tails was resealed within Rōshi.^[2]

Background

Rōshi became the jinchūriki of the Four-Tails over forty years before the Fourth Shinobi World War at a very young age.^[3] He left his home town of Iwagakure at some point to better understand and control the power of the beast within him.^[4]

Personality

Son Gokū mentioned that Rōshi was just as hard-headed as Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, suggesting the two had been acquainted. Despite this, upon observing Naruto Uzumaki's battle against Tobi and his Six Paths of Pain, as well as his knowledge of the tailed beasts final meeting with the Sage of the Six Paths, he came to regrettably believe that all the jinchūriki could have walked down the right path if they were more like the young man. Also despite being Son's jinchūriki for over forty years,^[5] he never referred to the beast by its true name, stating that he had not become soft-hearted enough to do such a thing. Before Son was resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he revealed to the beast that he never forgot its name, making peace with the giant monkey.

Appearance

Rōshi was shown wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protector and ring, and a prominent black piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

Despite his advanced age, his hair was solid red. His hair and beard style were exactly the same as that of the Four-Tails inside him. He dressed himself in a long-sleeved purple shirt and pants, with a mesh-armour shirt underneath, and brown armour. He also had a bag tied on his waist, most likely containing ninja tools.

Abilities

He has been noted to be a very powerful shinobi. Kisame, a powerful Akatsuki member himself, stated that he was not one to play around with as he was a tough one to capture.^[6] He was also seen using a curved kunai with which it can be assumed that he had proficiency wielding.^[7]

After his reincarnation and serving as one of Tobi's Six Paths of Pain, Rōshi had both a Sharingan and Rinnegan implanted into his eyes. Combining the perceptual and predictive abilities of the former with the shared vision ability of the latter, allowed Rōshi to use his attacks in a more precise and coordinated fashion as well as react to enemy attacks more efficiently, both individually and in conjunction and with the other jinchūriki.

Nature Transformation

By borrowing the Four-Tails' power, Rōshi was able to use its Lava Release ninjutsu, a combination of fire and earth-based chakra, to create a torrent of lava that can melt almost anything. In the anime, Tobi referred to him as "Rōshi of the Lava Release" (熔遁の老紫, Yōton no Rōshi),^[1] further indicating his prowess with it. He could create a giant geyser of lava as seen in the anime or spit multiple balls of lava at the enemy. He could also create an armour made of lava that not only has defensive purposes but adds lava to his taijutsu attacks increasing their potential damage.

Jinchūriki Transformations

Main article: Rōshi's Jinchūriki Forms As the Four-Tails' jinchūriki, Rōshi is granted a significant amount of chakra and stamina from the beast. The full extent of his control is unknown, but he could form at least one of the beast's tails upon his reincarnation, further enhancing his power and strength. After being immobilised by B's clone, he transforms into his Version 2 form, in this form he was able to create an enormous torrent of lava, scorching the Eight-Tails. When Rōshi attacked Naruto and Killer B, Tobi forced him to transform into his full Four-Tails form. In this form, he displayed tremendous strength, being able to toss Killer B in his full Eight-Tails form a considerable distance away.

Part II

Itachi Pursuit Arc

After an unseen and difficult battle with Kisame Hoshigaki of Akatsuki, Rōshi was somehow defeated and captured by Kisame. He later died as the result of having the Four-Tails extracted from his body.

Shinobi World War Arc

In preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Rōshi is reincarnated by Kabuto Yakushi to fight against the Allied Shinobi Forces, before being mobilised alongside the other deceased jinchūriki.

As dawn breaks on the second day, it is revealed that Tobi had turned the revived jinchūriki into his own customised Six Paths of Pain, with each having a Rinnegan and Sharingan in place of their left and right eyes respectively. Each jinchūriki also had their particular tailed beast resealed within them and a chakra receiver embedded into their bodies.

Rōshi is later seen travelling together with Tobi, in pursuit of Naruto and Killer B. Encountering their targets, the revived jinchūriki were sent into battle with Rōshi leading the offensive, using his Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique to pressure the enemy. When this initial assault fails, he, like the others, unleashes the power of his respective tailed beast by materialising the first of its tails.

Whilst Naruto and B converse, Rōshi exploits this opportunity to attack the former directly, after covering his body in lava. Despite evading the strike, Naruto's face is still scorched by the heat but when Rōshi attacks again, Naruto endures the blow in an attempt to destroy the chakra receiver embedded in his chest. However, this is thwarted by Han. Incapacitated in the wake of the Eight-Tails' devastating attack, after B's recent transformation, Rōshi is then restrained by the latter's sealing technique. However, before the technique's completion, he manages to escape by adopting his Version 2 form, where he then proceeds to burn the Eight-Tails using his Flower–Fruit Mountain technique.

Regrouping with the other revived jinchūriki, after Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy's intervention, Rōshi charges past the pair towards Naruto and B. When he clashes with the former, Tobi forcefully transforms him into his full Four-Tails form, where he then proceeds to assault the Eight-Tails. Grabbing one of the beast's tails, Rōshi hurls the two jinchūriki upwards and, after dislodging Naruto in the process, prepared to swallow him. However, despite Naruto's efforts to lodge himself between the beast's jaws and B's attempts to restrain the ape, the former is ultimately swallowed whole.

While Naruto converses subconsciously with Son Gokū, Rōshi resists B's efforts to free his captive comrade, only to be forced to eject Naruto when he multiplies. He then tries to impede Naruto from removing the chakra receiver embedded in the beast's chest, but fails to do so thanks to a coordinated strike, leaving Rōshi's incapacitated body behind as Son Gokū is resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

When a transformed Naruto's Tailed Beast Ball later clashes with the collaborative one formed by the other tailed beasts, Rōshi's unconscious body is protected by the Eight-Tails from the resulting blast. Afterwards, Naruto subconsciously meets with the other beasts and their jinchūriki, where it was revealed that shortly before Son was resealed, Rōshi questioned his beast as to whether it thought they too had taken the wrong path during life. He then states that despite not being considerate enough to have spoken it, he had not forgotten the beast's real name. As the two fade away, a smiling Rōshi asks the beast if calling it "Son" would be all right.

After Son is resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Rōshi and the other jinchūriki's corpses are collected by B and held in the Eight-Tails' tentacles. With the release of the Impure World Reincarnation, Rōshi and the others are enveloped in a light of sorts before their bodies start to deconstruct and Rōshi's soul returned to the afterlife.

Trivia

• Rō (老) means "old age" or "elderly". Shi (紫) means "purple". It is possible Rōshi was named after the Dragon Ball character Master Rōshi, considering that the Four-Tails' design was also inspired by Dragon Ball.
• In order to prevent the jinchūriki from turning traitor, it is tradition for the host to be selected from the family of the village's own Kage. It might be that Rōshi somehow was connected with one of the Tsuchikage.
• In the manga Rōshi's headpiece is depicted as having a golden ring on the left side. The golden ring on Rōshi's headpiece was not present in the anime. This was later added as of episode 256.

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Naruto: Shippūden episode 205
2. ↑ Naruto chapter 565, page 1
3. ↑ Naruto chapter 572, page 8
4. ↑ Third Databook, page 183
5. ↑ Naruto chapter 572, page 10
6. ↑ Naruto chapter 353, page 3
7. ↑ Second Naruto artbook, page 4