Minato was filled with regret. He knew he had to seal at least half of the Kyuubi into his own son to counter the threat posed by the Masked Man. He also knew that doing so would condemn the child to a life with the embodiment of hatred and rage locked within him. He knew he had no choice, but still, even as the Death God slowly pulled at his soul, did he wish for some other way, begged, pleaded, prayed, for a different method that would allow his son to oppose the power and might of the Masked Man.
The Death God heard Minato's desperate prayer and responded accordingly. Instantly the Kyuubi was ripped from the mortal plain and swallowed entirely by the Death God.
'No!' Minato thought upon witnessing this. 'Now how can Naruto fight the Masked Man?!
Meanwhile, in a far distant world, both unknown to and unknowing of the Shinobi World, a small, blond child named Gash stood proudly before a conservatively dressed teenage boy called Kiyo. He smiled gladly up at his friend, his partner, his bookmaster.
"We did it, Kiyo! We won the battle to be the king!"
Kiyo smiled in kind at his tiny friend, his feelings a mixture of relief, pride, and sadness. Relief and pride that he and Gash had won. Sadness because he knew that know was the last the last time he'd ever see Gash again. The last battle had been fought and won and now it was time to for Gash to return to the Demon World in kingly triumph.
Kiyo placed his hand on the blond child's head and ruffled his hair. "We did, Gash. We did."
"Congratulations, Gash Bell! You have done well, winning through this battle of 100 Demon Children! you are now the Demon World King! Partner, Kiyo Takamine, thank you for fighting with him to the end. And deep apologies for the inconvenience to the Human World. At this time, all the damage done to people, things, and parts of nature caused by this Demon Battle will be returned to this previous state. Now then, Demon World King Gash Bell's partner, Kyo, you have a final choice to make.
"If you've had pain from fighting alongside Gash, your memories of Gash may be erased and as compensation, you will be given any fortune you desire. On the other hand, if you wish to keep your memories of Gash, you may not have any such fortune.
"What shall you do?"
Gash's red spellbook was floating before the duo, aglow with whatever force that powered the tournament now speaking through the tome.
"I will leave my memories of Gash in my heart. I already have a 'fortune' in my heart..."
The voice from the book continued. "Congratulations, Kiyo! The fortune you've chosen will certainly make the path of your life from here glow golden. In hard times and sad times, that fortune will support your heart.
"The time of separation is at hand. Have you both prepared your hearts?"
Gash smiled, his heart swollen with pride at Kiyo's decision. "Kiyo..."
"We won't cry. We've already had our farewells."
Gash bowed to Kiyo and disappeared in a golden glow.
Gash was pulled from the Human World into the space between worlds. He felt himself propelled to the Demon World, but some other power was pulling him in an entirely different and new direction. 'Almost there,' Gash thought. 'I can sense Demons in this direction!' Gash willed himself to return to the Demon World. He redoubled his efforts and began to feel himself break into the Demon World. He was so close he could now sense Kanchome! He groped forward, struggling, trying with every part of his being to reach the duck-billed demon.
"Gash!" He heard Kanchome shout. Their hands met, Gash grasping Kanchome's wrist. Unfortunately for the two demons, the outside force that had been drawing Gash away now intensified and ripped them from their world and out to a new world of shinobi and tailed beasts.
Minato, weak and dying from the Death God Sealing Jutsu, could only watch as what appeared to be two strange children burst from the Death God's mouth and were sealed inside his infant son. A seal resembling an old-fashioned door lock briefly flashed on the newborn's chest before fading away.
"What?" Was all Minato could ask before the Death God finished removing Minato's soul.
Six-year-old Naruto was having a very bad day. He'd just been kicked out of the orphanage—again—and was currently fleeing from ninja. He didn't even know why the ninja was chasing him—this time—though he could probably make a few, or more accurately, several, guesses if he put his mind to it. "Can this day get any worse?!" As if in answer, three more ninjas dropped down from the rooftops, blocking the alley he was currently fleeing through. "Great."
'Hey, voices! Little help here? Whatever these guys want can't be good—do you wanna spend the rest of this week with me washing bird poo off of the Hokage monument?' Naruto directed his thoughts to the back of his mind.
A quickly whispered exchange was followed by a boy's shout. 'Rauzaraku!'
Naruto's body was surrounded by a rainbow-colored, body-hugging aura. The six-year-old could feel strength and speed permeate his small frame.
"Alright! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm outta here! Nyah-nyah!" With that, the child leapt out of the alley and onto a nearby building and began bounding over buildings at breakneck speeds, moving over eight, nine, a dozen buildings per leap. The rainbow glow shut off mid-leap. Naruto maintained his momentum and found that he couldn't halt himself without the enhanced strength as he landed and tumbled on a rooftop. His pinwheeling body went over the roof's edge.
As Naruto feel to the ground, the boy's voice rang out in Naruto's mind once again. 'Rauzaraku!' The rainbow aura returned right before Naruto impacted the ground. Naruto grinned enormously at the lack of any pain or damage from the fall and swiftly resumed his journey over the rooftops until he found himself at his favorite spot: the top of the Hokage Monument, specifically the stone carving of the Fourth Hokage's head. Naruto gazed out at Konoha spread before him.
"Ahem." A familiar voice spoke from behind Naruto.
"Old Man?"
"I see you've managed to avoid the ninja I dispatched to find you."
"Yeah… I was kinda having a cruddy day. Kinda having a really cruddy day. Didn't wanna mess with today. The lady at the orphanage kicked me out! Can you believe that?! Just for some prank that I didn't even do! I was framed!" Naruto's voice took on a slight whine.
The Hokage joined Naruto at the edge of the monument and looked out at the village. "Some days, Naruto, are worse than others. I know that the orphanage is not an ideal place for you." Sarutobi Hiruzen politically didn't mention that the orphanage director came directly to the Hokage while crying tears of rage over 'little prank,' which involved a stolen explosive tag, a toilet, and subsequent black flow thereof.
"Which is actually why I sent those ninja to retrieve you, Naruto. How would you like your own apartment?"
"What? Really? Yeah!" The pint-sized pipsqueak let out a squeak.
"And another thing to brighten your day: would you like to enroll in the Ninja Academy's upcoming semester?"
"Yes! Yes! That's even better than my own place, Old Man! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto began jumping up and down in happiness, the importance of his earlier frustrations fading away quickly.
The Hokage paused to watch Naruto before saying, "See? Even the worst day can turn around." The Hokage smiled beatifically before shunshinning away in a cloud of leaves and mist.
Naruto was so caught up in his celebrations that he only noticed Sarutobi was gone a few minutes after the fact.
"Old Man? Ah, geez, I completely forgot to ask him about the voices!" Naruto threw his arms in the air, annoyed at his own forgetfulness. "Guess I'll have to figure this out all by myself. Think, think, think…"
Naruto sat down on the stone head to concentrate. He hummed and hawed, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes. He let out a startled yelp and bolted to his feet.
He was no longer on the monument. He wasn't even in Konoha. His surroundings had been replaced by an endless expanse of blue tile and almost clear blue skies. A few clouds drifted through the sky and a slight cool breeze rippled his clothes.
"H-hello?"
"Behind you."
Naruto whipped around and found himself looking at a younger blond boy wearing what seemed to be a green dress standing beside the strangest child he'd ever seen, stranger than even that weird dogboy Naruto sometimes saw at the park. The strange child had a duckbill, a hair-style that resembled a ducktail, and wore yellow shoes and white-pajamas with a green symbol on the front that vaguely resembled a frog's face. They were standing in front of what might have been some variety of large control panel or mechanism with large, flat view screens hovering over the mechanism. Two books, one yellow, the other red, sat on the control panel.
Naruto took a step back and waved his hands defensively. "Woah, woah, hold just a minute. Where am I? How did you bring me here? Who and what are you?"
"I'm Gash!" The blond boy said, stepping forward.
The duck-faced child took a candybar out of his pajamas and said, "I'm Kanchome." Then he began eating.
"I'm not sure where we are. We can sometimes see you in that TV when you look in the mirror. We think it might be, um, kinda showing what you see, maybe. With your eyes, I mean." The blond child looked embarrassed and coughed slightly, glancing down at the floor.
"And we can hear you when you think!" The duckboy said while spraying crumbs from his duckbill.
"Eh? If those things show what I'm seeing, then why aren't you guys up there now?"
Gash scrunched up his face as he tried to puzzle this out. Several seconds passed before he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Dunno."
"And how come you don't know where we are? How'd you get here?"
Kanchome walked over to the monitors as Gash answered. "We woke up here a couple days ago. Before that I was headed back to home. We haven't been able to figure out how to leave yet."
"You've been stuck here days and now I'm stuck here too?!" Naruto's jaw dropped and his hands shot up to either side of his face.
"Unuu."
Kanchome continued to munch away at his candy before he said, "There's a bird on the TV."
"So?" Naruto replied, looking up at the monitor. A bird was indeed now hopping around on the ground.
"It wasn't there before."
"And?!" Naruto's mood was returning to frustration.
"I think it's a live shot."
"What does that even mean?" Naruto shouted in exasperation.
"If it's showing what your eyes can see, then that means your real eyes are someplace else." Kanchome started eating more candy.
"I still don't get it." Naruto looked confused. So did Gash, who had a look of supreme concentration on his face.
"Maybe you're not really here. Maybe the real you is still on those stone heads."
"What?" Naruto and Gash spoke in unison.
"Try closing your eyes and imaging yourself back there."
"Okay…" After Naruto did as Kanchome suggested, he opened his eyes to find himself back in Konoha. 'Thanks, guys!' He thought to the back of his head. 'So you're really real? And you're the guys who have been giving me superpowers with that rainbow glow? Why would you do that?'
There was a pause before Naruto got an answer. 'Um… Remember that lighting in the boy's room? That caused the explosion that… Um… Kinda got you kicked out?'
'That was you?!'
'It was us. Well, me.' Gash sounded more than a bit flustered. 'We were trying to get out and I finally tried to use my spellbook, but you shot out the lightning when I called out the spell.'
'And that's why you used the rainbow glow spell thingy to let me get away from the orphanage director?'
'Yeah.'
'Tell you guys what… I'll try to find a way to rescue you guys from wherever you are if you promise to help me become a great ninja with super powers.'
'Mmm… Okay, I guess.' Gash was a bit doubtful, but agreed.
'Alright, but for now, I gotta find my new apartment. It's gonna be dark soon…'