Your Depth

When morning came the next day, Naruto found himself mysteriously asleep in his room and tucked comfortably into his futon once again, and this time there was no way it couldn't have been Madara that brought him to sleep in his own room. Was he really that much of a heavy sleeper that he didn't even notice himself being picked up, carried away, and tucked into bed? If he were to be kidnapped, he would probably be the easiest victim they ever had. Nevertheless, Naruto brushed off this matter without another thought and went to prepare himself for the rest of the day. He first turned on the lights in his room and then went to his closet to pick out a kimono he wanted to wear, and as he sifted through his stack of fine kimonos the moment his eyes landed on the sky blue one—the very first kimono Madara had given to him and also the man's favorite color—he pulled it out and put it on without a second thought. At first, he thought it was a pain to have to change into a kimono everyday, but the garment eventually began to grow on him as they definitely looked really good on him and made him feel very elegant.

After freshening up in the bathroom, Naruto made his way to the kitchen, and not to his surprise Madara was already present and almost finished making breakfast. However, the thing that did surprise him was that there was already a guest sitting at the dining room table—it was the ugly blue scarf he handmade, and it was sitting neatly folded on the table like it was waiting to be served.

Why doesn't he just hang it by the door? Naruto thought with a tilt of his head. Somehow looking at it sitting on display at the table made him feel a sense of embarrassment, and he wondered if Madara put it there on purpose to mock him. As he stared at the innocent garment, he cringed. It looked even uglier in the daytime.

Was the Uchiha really planning to wear it outside for the whole world to see?

Once they finished having breakfast and did some light chores around the house, it was time for the Uchiha patriarch to leave for work, and as Naruto saw the man off at the door he asked,

"Why are you working today? It's your birthday, isn't it? You should take the day off and relax at home."

"It's fine, I still have some unfinished work to attend to at the office."

"Geez, you're such a workaholic. You'll end up working yourself into dust at this point."

"Don't worry, at the very least I will return home early today."

"How early? Two minutes earlier than usual?" Naruto said with a childish pout.

Madara chuckled with a soft smile and ruffled the blond locks of the youth. "I will come home around three, there are a few meetings I need to attend and then I need to review and sign some papers. I won't be long, I promise." The Uchiha then took the folded scarf he had in his hand and unraveled it to wrap securely around his neck.

Naruto watched with narrowed eyes as he stared at the hideous scarf the handsome Uchiha donned and frowned to himself at the bizarre contrast. When Madara saw what the blond was staring at, he narrowed his own dark eyes suspiciously and placed a hand protectively on the blue garment as he backed away slightly, and upon seeing what the Uchiha was trying to do Naruto rolled his eyes and pouted a bit.

"Don't even look at me like that! I'm not gonna steal it, dummy!"

Madara made a show of visibly sighing in relief and laughed as the young man practically shoved him out the door; however, when he opened the front door, they both noticed a small fluffy white flake descend from the cloudy skies above to land and melt at the Uchiha's feet. They then looked up at the sky and found many more following after, and Naruto held out a hand to catch a few of the flakes in the palm of his hand to watch as they melted from the heat of his skin. The youth's eyes sparkled wondrously at the sight and looked up at the Uchiha with a big elated grin,