After another day of brewing, the uproar over Tan Man's identity as Naobito Zenin's son was no longer confined to the Zenin Clan. Before long, the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan had both received the relevant intelligence.
The incident in Kabukicho was, after all, a major disaster caused by a Cursed Technique. Compensating for a thousand deaths and calming public outrage alone were no small matters. It was bound to consume enormous amounts of manpower and money.
The mere fact that Naobito Zenin was willing to shoulder responsibility for the entire incident for this child's sake made the boy worth a thorough investigation by both clans.
In the end, the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan obtained most of the information about Tan Man, apart from his abilities, particularly the details concerning his mother.
To the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan, Tan Man's background was an outright joke among the Three Great Families, far more absurd than passing off a concubine's son as the legitimate heir.
The Gojo Clan's senior members privately contacted their counterparts in the Kamo Clan, and after some discussion, they immediately hit it off.
They were all intensely curious about what spell Tan Man had cast over Naobito Zenin to make him disregard the boy's background and pay such a steep price to settle the Kabukicho incident for him.
According to the incomplete intelligence they had obtained from within the Zenin Clan, the boy had defeated Naoya, who had inherited Projection Sorcery, almost as soon as he entered the clan.
Putting those two facts together, it was not difficult for the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan to conclude that Tan Man's Cursed Technique could be the only reason Naobito Zenin was willing to pay such a steep price for him.
The first possibility that came to mind was that Tan Man had awakened the Zenin Clan's hereditary Ten Shadows Technique, which had once killed a wielder of the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes at the cost of its own user's life.
To confirm their intelligence on Tan Man, the two clans chose a direct approach: hosting a banquet exclusively for the Three Great Families.
Rather than a banquet, it was more a gathering at an agreed-upon venue where each of the Three Great Families presented its own people or accomplishments to compete against the others.
These included, but were not limited to, the clan's financial report for the past year, its outstanding younger members, and its recent exorcisms of special grade cursed spirits.
Two years earlier, when Satoru Gojo awakened his Cursed Technique, the Gojo Clan had also hosted a banquet.
At that time, however, the purpose had not been to assess the strength of the Zenin Clan's and the Kamo Clan's children. It had simply been a unilateral declaration to both clans that the Gojo Clan would hold the title of the strongest alone for the next several decades.
As a result, there had been little competition between the Three Great Families at that year's banquet. Most of the proceedings had been skipped. The Gojo Clan had simply shown off, while the Zenin Clan and the Kamo Clan squirmed in their seats, wishing it would end sooner.
This time was different. They intended to put the Zenin Clan on the spot and make its children, Tan Man in particular, face off against the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes.
At its core, this was the Gojo Clan suppressing the Zenin Clan, while the Kamo Clan, with nothing at stake, was happy to help bring it about.
The Gojo Clan's attitude was simple: they wanted to see just how long this heir, whom Naobito Zenin had gone to such painstaking lengths to bring back, could last against the Six Eyes.
The Kamo Clan, whose strength was comparatively modest, wanted to know just how powerful Tan Man was after defeating Naoya, so they could assess the threat he posed to them.
What the Gojo Clan wanted was to humiliate the Zenin Clan in front of everyone. They did not care how strong its children were; they would only end up defeated by the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes anyway.
Since the Kamo Clan had no children of a suitable age to take part in the sparring, they had essentially resigned themselves to coming last.
Although the Kamo Clan's children had also awakened Cursed Techniques, none possessed the hereditary Blood Manipulation, and none could remotely compare to the Six Eyes. Forcing them into the spotlight would only invite humiliation. Accepting third place was not so difficult for them.
The Zenin Clan, by contrast, was in the most awkward position. If it refused to compete against the Gojo Clan, its standing would immediately fall to the same level as the Kamo Clan's, making its actions look especially ridiculous to the other clans.
But avoiding that outcome meant Tan Man and Naoya would have to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of Satoru Gojo, the wielder of the Six Eyes. Even in defeat, they could preserve their public standing as second among the Three Great Families, but the loss would be ugly. Refusing the banquet out of fear of battle, however, would be an even greater loss of face.
With the Six Eyes in its ranks, the Gojo Clan had no intention of giving anyone time to grow. It would crush them while they were still weak.
For the hidebound, antiquated Three Great Families, dignity and face often mattered more than life itself.
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