(In honour of my late grandfather.)

Thank You
By JMC

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the center of Roshi's chest... Or rather where it used to be. A large, gaping hole stood in its place, with blood running his body. Roshi took a few unsteady steps as his attacker Menma walks away with a heavily bloodied arm... And then, he tripped.

On pure instinct, Naruto delivered a punch to one of the White Zetsus restraining him, and he took a large jump. He catches Roshi and sits down on his knees, while he grabbed the back of the old Jinchuuriki's back and gently pulled the Iwa shinobi on his left shoulder.

"Unngghh... N-Naruto.. cough, cough...!" Roshi splurted splashes of blood over the blonde shinobi's shoulder, either leaving stains of it on the young man's sage coat or on the muddy soil.

"Help... Someone help.. SOMEBODY GET A MEDIC RIGHT NOW!" Naruto roared, as his eyes began to moisture. The other Jinchuuriki and shinobi occupy them could do nothing but stand watch. Fu placed her hands over her jaw, with tears beginning to fall. Gaara silently looks away with closed eyes as his body began shaking and whimpering. Yugito was on her knees with her eyes widened, as she was still in a state of shock. Han's eyes started to moisture as his face mask fails to contain the emotions of Kokuo's host. Utakata looked with a face of shame and sorrow. Bee's eyebrows squinted as his clenched hand all conveys his grief. Yagura's head dropped as his closed eyes began moistening with tears.

"No... Forget it..." Naruto turned his head to the old man. "...My lungs have been... completely disintegrated...I-I won't be able to... survive... cough, cough." Roshi begins choking up more and more of his blood as his eyes begin to blur.

"Don't say that! We'll... We'll find another way to save you... I-I WON'T LET YOU DIE!" Naruto's eyes began dropping with tears as he tried... anything to save the old man's life... Or rather...trying to believe there's another way...

"Naruto.. Listen to me... You.. Onoki... Han.. My son... And the others... You're the reason as to why I came here, I...cough! I-I wanted to thank you... When I had my tailed beast sealed in m-me... I tried to deal by... cough... getting into fights and impressing women... But I was able to meet my wife... She was... unngghhhh.. the only one back then capable of understanding me... But with the Third Great War, I decided to leave... I promised her and my son that I would've returned..."

Naruto's eyes widened as he continued listening. "...I returned to see them three times... But for the fourth? My wife died before I arrived... My son Tetsu disowned me... cough.. Wanted me to never bother me... So I continued my quest... T-to try and... master the Four Tails... Wrote stories of my travels so others would read them... A-and get the chance to see Mariko again...

"R-Roshi..." Naruto spoke as he tried to comprehend everything the dying old man was trying to tell him.

"...cough... I-I didn't ask for... a-anything of this.. I never asked...for this burden..I-I never even asked...to be born..."

"Grandpa... R-roshi...?" Naruto's eyes further began to moisten as his tears began running down his cheeks. Unaware of the chaos surrounding them, Naruto couldn't hear anything. Not the battle against Menma, not the other shinobi dying against the White Zetsu, or even his tailed beasts clashing with their foes... But only Roshi's words.

"N-naruto... E-even though I've committed so much sins... took the lives of so many shinobi... failed to be there for my son... You and... Onoki still chose to love me for what I am... Thank you for caring about... me... Thank you f-for loving me..."

"Naruto's eyes further welled up with tears as he felt his whole body begin to stiff. "As a child... There was something... I-I've wanted... Cough! Cough!... Something.. I've dreamed of achieving..."

Naruto dared to ask.

"...A-and...that was...?"

"...ggghhhh... A family..." Roshi finally took his last breath as tears started trailing his cheeks.

Roshi's body slid from Naruto's body and he fell to the left side of the young man. Naruto watched in shock, as everyone turned to face Roshi's fate.

Roshi's impacted the soil hard. The impact of his body created a ring of dirt that blew everywhere.

Naruto looked at what Roshi's body.

On Roshi's face... Laid one final smile.

Roshi... Was dead.

End.