Author's Note: Just some random, probably horrendous 'Naruto Has a Twin Sister' fan fiction. Written purely for my own amusement, this has very little to do with pleasing readers so if it offends you that I've created an OC, please show yourself out. The back button should suffice. That being said, if you're willing to stick around it is my solemn duty to be sure you are properly forewarned. So pay attention.

Pairings: NaruHina, NaruSaku. Probable ShikamaruxOC, but ChoujixOC at this point is just as likely.

Warnings: Cursing, eventual mature themes, slow updates, possible emasculation of Uchiha Madara, OCs, death, violence, alcohol abuse... pretty much everything you could expect to find in the manga but have censored by the American media machine. :D

Disclaimer: Naruto is (c) Masashi Kishimoto.

True to Form : Prologue

I ran forever, far away;
I always thought I'd end up here alone.
I've come home to give back the things they took from you.
I believe that everything has been opened up for me.

Konoha stunk of death.

The stench assaulted the noses of all without discrimination, the scent well-known to the village's shinobi and foreign to her civilians. Fires hissed and Uchiha darted through desolate streets trying to restore order. The Police Task Force had been utterly blindsided by the appearance of the Kyuubi and the siege it laid. Already their own death toll was rising, the first response teams taking the heaviest hits. Uchiha Fugaku had even found himself with a field promotion to chief of police, but it couldn't be said that his mind was completely set on the task at hand as he barked orders and hurled all his strength into a clumsy suiton to help contain the flames.

He was much more preoccupied with thoughts of his wife and sons.

But he needn't have worried because Mikoto and their boys were safe and sound. Itachi held his brother tightly in his sling as his mother once more demanded to see the Hokage and was once more denied. The chuunin secretary who Mikoto swore had never once left the antechamber of the Hokage's office remained unapologetic.

"Those are orders, Lady Uchiha," he said stiffly.

Mikoto huffed in a very unladylike fashion.

She would kill Minato herself for this.

But once more there was no need; Minato was already dead.

Inside the sealed off chamber, in the office Hiruzen had bequeathed Minato only to have returned to him, the Third Hokage stared hard at the wall. There were many decisions to be made, so many his head nearly spun. He hadn't shouldered such responsibility in years, not since naming his successor, and the speed at which it had returned left him convinced he should have whiplash. The Sandaime could hear his visitors in the lobby and dreaded that he would have to see them before long.

He didn't want to be the one to tell Uchiha Mikoto that Uzumaki Kushina was dead.

Then again, he supposed only a true idiot wouldn't have known that by now and Mikoto was no idiot. She was also one of Uzumaki's closest friends, perhaps one of few aware of the redhead's exact condition, and it was only too easy to realize why the clan heiress had staked out the office he occupied. She wanted answers. But she was expecting them to come from Minato, which would simply not be possible.

Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his tired eyes, unsurprised at the way they stung. It had been a very long time since he had seen such a tragedy as had taken place that night. He had so many questions and not nearly enough answers, though there was very little to be done about it now. Minato and Kushina's decisions had been their own to make. He had arrived only in time to witness very little of the plot, but it had been clear to see that their little family had ended nearly the moment it had begun. The mother and father were gone, but the children remained.

Koharu was tending them. A boy and a girl, the latter of which had been a complete surprise to everyone involved. Naruto had been thoroughly expected, but if either Minato or Kushina had been aware of their daughter before the time of her birth, they had been extremely close lipped about it. The fact remained, however, that she was there with them, just as blonde and unfortunately loud as her brother. They were together then in a single basket, wrapped tight in their blankets as Hiruzen's former teammate and current advisor cooed over them in a grandmotherly way.

"Poor things," she gushed, all but poking and prodding the babies who were finally sleeping.

Hiruzen had to agree; not even a day old and already orphaned, he didn't foresee things getting better for the pair in the immediate future. He stood up and wandered towards the desk where Koharu and the twins were and peered into their baskets. The small faces he saw were undeniably tear stained and marred by two sets of three whiskers on one child's cheeks, the other possessing only two such marks on only one cheek. They were otherwise indiscernible. A grudging smile came to Hiruzen's face as he noticed their little hands locked tight as if they knew they were all the other had left in the world.

"What are you going to do with them, Hiruzen?"

Ah, Homura. Hiruzen could always count on Mitokado Homura to cut straight to the point. He looked back down at the twins and his slight smile faded into a frown. He would like to have pretended he didn't know what he was going to do with them, but it was already so obvious what to do next. With a finger larger than their combined fists, he gently separated their entwined fingers.

They would have to be separated to keep each other safe.

"There are people know that the Fourth was going to have a child," Hiruzen said slowly. "The girl – Hina – will accept that role. The fixations of Minato's enemies will be channeled to her and Naruto will be left out of their reach."

Homura nodded, "Acceptable. But what of the boy? He's taken his mother's stead, you know. As the jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails he can't be left totally unprotected."

Hiruzen offered his agreement before stating the rest of his plan. "Naruto will be stripped of his family name and assimilated into the village as just another orphan, as distanced as possible from his parents and sister. Complete anonymity will be the key to his survival. The separation will double in importance by not allowing connections to be traced between his status as jinchuuriki and her status as pseudo-jinchuuriki."

"I see," Homura said, his expression that of dawning realization. "By focusing all attention on Hina, Naruto will go undetected, and by Naruto slipping under the radar, Hina's safety is further ensured. Clever, Sarutobi."

The aging Hokage smiled listlessly. "I wish I was cleverer so that they could at least be together."

"Nonsense," Koharu chided, clicking her tongue. "You're doing the best thing you can do for them, Hiruzen; you're going to keep them both alive, healthy, and safe. You can't be asked for more."

"I suppose," Hiruzen allowed at length, lifting the sleeping boy from the basket he and his sister occupied.

Naruto was only identifiable from his sister for his extra whisker marks, or his sister's lack of whisker marks, however one wished to state the fact. The Sandaime held him for only a moment before passing him on to Koharu with orders to keep him in the adjoining room while he dealt with Uchiha Mikoto, who still stood resiliently outside the office doors in the lobby with her young sons.

"I'll take her then?" Homura asked, reaching for Hina.

Hiruzen stopped him, "No, go on with Koharu. It's time for little Namikaze Hina to make her first appearance."

"Right," Homura said, following Koharu into the next room presumably to keep vigil over Naruto.

Hiruzen waited until the door clicked shut and the barrier seals of the room had been activated before opening the door that led to the lobby. There was the chuunin secretary once more telling the Lady Uchiha that she simply wasn't allowed within the Hokage's office and there was Mikoto looking for the life of her as if she was getting inside if it was the last thing she did.

"Let her in, Gekko," Hiruzen said tiredly.

"Hokage-sama!" the chuunin exclaimed in surprise. "Of course."

Mikoto didn't need to be told twice. She snatched Itachi's hand and pulled the little boy in her wake, her youngest son Sasuke still neatly asleep in his sling, and Hiruzen shut the office door behind them. Mikoto turned on him nearly immediately.

"Where's Namikaze-sama?"

Hiruzen decided it was an appropriate time to be blunt. Details could be spared later.

"He's dead."

Mikoto looked taken aback; Itachi hid himself and brother behind her leg, as if sensing the conversation could only get worse.

"A-and Kushina?"

"I believe you already know."

Silence reigned in the small office and Hiruzen approached the desk.

"They did leave someone behind, though."

Mikoto's eyes lit with understanding, her mind wandering towards the last time she saw Kushina. "The baby! Their son!"

"Hina," Hiruzen corrected, gesturing to the basket where now only one baby rested. "They had a daughter. Sonograms sometimes lie, I suppose."

Mikoto nodded and pulled her children along as she crossed the room to join Hiruzen by the basket. Mikoto peered over the edge of the basket and gasped, tentatively reaching out to touch the child's marked cheek. Hiruzen didn't stop her.

"She looks just like him," Mikoto said quietly.

"Children sometimes do that," Hiruzen allowed with a nod.

"Do what?"

"Come out looking like their fathers."

Mikoto glanced at her own children and smiled. "They sure do. Hokage-sama, if there's no one to take care of her..."

"It's getting late," he said quite suddenly. "You should be seeing your boys home and getting word to Fugaku that you're all safe."

Mikoto clearly comprehended his gentle denial of her half spoken request. He would not send Minato and Kushina's daughter straight into the lion's den that was the Uchiha District, not when she was so young and fragile and without at least six different S-class jutsu to her name. Her brother's safety was contingent on her own ability to shoulder the weight of the public eye and draw attention away from Naruto. They would have to protect each other from this day – day one – if either had a hope to survive. But in the meantime he knew that they would need others looking out for them. Adults with eyes and ears already trained and ready to deflect the many threats that were sure to arise. They couldn't leave anything to chance and despite his grief – having lost Biwako among many other precious people that night – he already knew what came next, exactly as he had known what to do with the twins to keep them safe.

"Thank you for your concern," Hiruzen added as an afterthought.

Mikoto nodded and took her cue to leave, once more pulling Itachi and Sasuke behind her. "Let me know if there's anything I can do, Hokage-sama. For Kushina. She was my friend."

"Of course, Uchiha-san," Hiruzen replied, his eyes still trained on the baby girl in the basket.

The door shut as Mikoto and her sons departed and Hiruzen bent to pick up Hina, settling down into the seat behind the desk and rocking her slowly. The action was not at all foreign to him; he remembered he had done much of the same when his sons Asuma and Masa had been small. As they rocked he looked down at the baby critically. They couldn't leave anything to chance. The Sandaime repeated the thought to himself over and over again.

He would raise Namikaze Hina himself.

Author's Note: Now review! For the love of all things beautiful in this world, review!