Title: Divide et empera
Rating: R
Pairing: SasuNaru (as requested by the readers)
Warning: Latin. Japanese. Mythology and superstitions. Symbolism. Weird badly-translated songs. Middle-age weaponry. Yaoi. And if you think that yaoi is the worst of them all, you ARE painfully wrong.
Summary: There were no heart-wrenching prophecies or mysterious signs. The end of the world was two days after tomorrow and the only way to postpone it was for Naruto to die. Oddly enough, he was the only one to accept it calmly.

Divide et empera
(Divide and reign)

1. Nomen est omen
(Name is a sign)

ーうずまきナルトー

四

死

Two different words, pronounced in drastically the same manner.

Shi. Four.

Shi. Death.

When the Fifth Hokage gifted him with a title of an ANBU, he was childishly happy, knowing that his dream was a huge step closer now. Put into the Fourth ANBU squad, he was happy that four, the number of his hero, his idol and his ideal was with him.

When he forfeited his name for the sake of birth of Ha-no-shi of the Leaf's Fourth ANBU Squad, he was twice as happy.

はの四。Ha-no-shi. Three signs of which only one – shi - has a meaning – four -, while the rest simply encode him into a list of other nameless and faceless shadows.

葉の死。Or ha-no-shi. Three sings that envelope a name that can frighten both enemies and comrades. Leaf's Death.

Funny enough, Naruto had never been superstitious and never paid attention to his new "name". Naruto was Naruto and no mask, however feline it was, could change him.

It was his fourth solo mission as an ANBU.

…blood marred the white of snow with pitiful red. Naruto hissed, breath drifting away in small clouds, and slumped down a centuries-old oak, now bare and defenseless without its leaves:

"What the hell are you doing, stupid fox?! Heal me already…" words that thundered through his being were, in fact, barely whispered. Fatigue didn't let him reach the demon mentally, so he could only mutter, exposed to the world, and stripped of the protection of the Nine Tails. Cold fingers of winter were painfully digging into him along with several shuriken, but Naruto didn't move to pull them out.

He slowly reached to the scabbard of his ninjatou, trying not to bother the wound on his left shoulder. Not even trying to relocate the koshirae, he blindly found and pressed several leaves incurved into the black leather. Inaudible click signified the success and three small pills fell into his palm.

"Poor excuse of a demon, why don't you heal me?" he whispered and swallowed all the pills in one go. They would allow him to stay alive a little longer before the Fox would wake up.

Minutes passed one by one, but Naruto couldn't feel the familiar sensation of demon chakra rushing to the wound… Only sleepiness from the pills. The surroundings started to sway and drift away and Naruto ground teeth together, forbidding conscience to slip out of his deadly mental grip. The reality seemed to have stabled, but instead of doubling trees hallucinations took shape of his most 'beloved' duo – Orochimaru and Itachi. Together they stood before him, proudly holding a thick yellowish snake.

"Nice death for a piece of shit like you," Orochimaru said gleefully, caressing the python's (Naruto assumed it was a python) head.

"Don't you think I would have done anything differently if I knew," Itachi added.

The python raised its head and looked straight into Naruto's eyes. Mesmerized by the stare, he didn't even think about self-control. The last think he heard before darkness enveloped him was a hiss.

"Sh-sh-sh-shi…" And screw him if it didn't mean "death".

ーうちはさすけー

Naruto was coming back in a week and Sasuke didn't know what to think, what to feel about it. They hadn't seen each other for almost a year and their last meeting wasn't a pleasant one. Not in the slightest.

'I shouldn't have come back,' he mused silently, perched on the roof of the Main House of the Uchiha compound – the only building that survived years of abandonment. He knew now he shouldn't have, but he wasn't a coward to flee now, as the decision had been taken and executed. He was back – for more than three months, in all his Uchiha glory and shame.

The sun rose a bit higher over the clouds, scarlet light painfully reminding Sasuke of blood. He looked down on his hands, hugged by the red glow, and sighed, shooing away unwanted ghosts. Who could have thought that he'd still have a goal after Itachi's death? Sasuke himself never expected to move on.

He kept on sitting on the roof and watching the sun rise until it reached some unidentified for others point and Sasuke returned to his room. He took a quick shower and changed into fresh clothes – of perfectly the same fashion as the ones he had worn before: black sleeveless turtleneck, black pants and black leather boots. Those boots made him smile every time he tied or untied the laces. One more reminder that he was not a shinobi of Konoha. Or Oto for that matter.

Not wasting any more time, he, without even a usual cup of green tea, went to the Hokage Tower to see Tsunade. At the door of her cabinet he met Sakura and Sai – the two were heading the same way. The substitute didn't even spare a nod in Sasuke's direction, while Sakura greeted him rather reluctantly. As the rage of the battle subsided, she, who stood alongside with him, grew distant and cold. For the Uchiha it was rater amusing how everyone wanted him back with a passion, sobbed all over Orochimaru's floors for his lost soul and promised whatever good if only he reconsidered. Now as he was in Konoha, he was promptly ignored. But honestly, he didn't care – as much as he didn't when he had gone into the viper's nest. He had a goal. Naruto was coming back in a week.

"Sakura, Sai, Sasuke," Tsunade nodded approvingly as they entered her cabinet and seated themselves in comfortable chairs. "Nice to you here."

Sasuke raised eyebrows at her subtle nervousness. The woman had been perfectly cool around him for the past three months, so he couldn't see why she was fidgeting in her armchair.

"Naruto is coming in a week," said Sai suddenly, his eyes glued to a dirty spot on the ceiling. "Isn't he?"

"He is," the Hokage nodded. "Or at least he has to. I didn't have a word from him since last week and it's a bit… unnerving."

Sakura let out a sigh of relief and Sasuke suddenly realized that tension had been building up in the room without him noticing.

"It takes exactly two weeks to get here from the Country of Snow," he said nonchalantly.

Tsunade nodded, no doubt informed of this fact, so not a bit more relieved. "It doesn't matter now," she said finally. "I want you three to go to Suna. Kazekage sent a scroll saying that a Konoha shinobi attempted an assassination on him." She went on, her anger on Gaara's undecipherable letter overcoming her unproved worries about Naruto. Sasuke wasn't listening though. Obviously – why would he try to memorize details of a mission laid out for someone else? He could only muse why Tsunade wanted him present.

"So what do you think, Sasuke?" she asked all of a sudden, startling them all.

"Why would my opinion matter you, Hokage-sama?" Nonchalance was bliss.

"Because I want you to go there as well," her reply emitted a muffled cry of surprise from Sakura. The Uchiha raised eyebrows. He could only assume that 'there' meant Suna and it was somehow connected with the scroll from Kazekage she had mentioned.

"Why is it?"

She frowned, obviously not willing to speak, but then sighed in defeat. "I want you back as a shinobi of Konoha."

"Why is it?" he repeated. The woman had never liked him; there was no reason to change her opinion now. No deadly threat to her village – Akatsuki were eliminated, as well as Oto (though Sasuke suspected that the old snake managed to fabricate his death). He locked eyes with Tsunade, but she didn't answer.

"Later."

The talks went on, with Sai and Sakura's participating, but the Uchiha stayed silent.

To become a shinobi again? Why would he want it? He didn't become one to save the world, he simply wanted to kill his brother. Now as Itachi was dead, he obtained another goal – one not connected with battling for justice in any way.

"Why is it?" Sasuke asked again as the doors closed behind his maybe-soon-to-be teammates.

"Why is what?" Tsunade snapped, standing up and coming to the window, her back to Sasuke now – not a sign of trust, but one of disbelief in his ability to hurt her.

"Why do you want me to go to Suna?"

She turned around, an amused smile plastered on her lips. "What a perception!"

He frowned, standing up as well. She was shorter than him and had he been in her shoes, he wouldn't have been so sure about her overwhelming advantage over him. He had not spent the past six years studying forbidden arts for a fluke. "Why?"

"Gaara said that a shinobi of Konoha attempted to kill him." Godaime paused and Sasuke, irritated, nudged her verbally.

"I down want to tug every sentence out of you."

She glared, obviously not pleased with his disrespect for her age and position. "And that is a shinobi known to both you and me. One that has been absent for nearly four months by now."

How he managed to catch a gasp inside his mouth was out of his understanding. "Na- Naruto?! Tried to kill that homicidal maniac Gaara? Aren't they friends?"

"Yes," she turned her back to him again and let her eyes wonder all over Konoha laid down before her in the window. "Gaara said that Naruto appeared on some negotiations with the Snow as a part of the diplomatic group. He didn't recognize him at first – something had happened to his chakra signature during the time he was absent, and the brat was obviously in disguise. During the negotiations he launched an attack on the Godaime Kazekage and had the latter not recognized him, Uzumaki would have undoubtedly been killed by now. Now he is kept in a closed facility." She gripped the windowsill so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I want you to go there and find out what has happened with Naruto."

Sasuke managed to regain his composure. "Why me? You didn't say a word to Sakura and Sai."

"I'm afraid they'd do something foolish… Like try to get him out of Suna's dungeons. You won't underestimate him… and the two will keep an eye on you. Get ready to head out this evening."

He nodded and left her cabinet, numerous theories running through his head. One thing was more than obvious – Tsunade didn't tell even a half of what she knew.

Third month of Naruto's absence in Hidden Village of the Leaf was flowing into fourth.

Ninjatou – (Jap, "ninja's sword") a type of a sword used by ninja (aka shinobi). Rather than a katana has a straight blade, 500-600 mm long, 25 mm wide and 5 mm thick. Usually a poisoned needle is hidden in its grip. The sword is worn on a person's back.
Koshirae – Jap, scabbard. Koshirae has some "surprises", as it can be adjusted to the ninjatou and be turned into a naginata, and so on.