When the Uchiha party arrived at Kinzawa Castle, the first to welcome them were not members of the seven clans, but the Uchiha's old friends, the Hagoromo Clan.
"Young Master Madara, it's been so long! I never expected you to lead the party here yourself."
The Hagoromo Clan's Second Elder waved at Madara with a warm smile.
Madara nodded to the Fourth Elder of the Uchiha beside him, who promptly stepped forward to exchange pleasantries with the Second Elder of the Hagoromo Clan.
Hyuga Kiyomei, who had traveled with Madara's party, raised an eyebrow, as though he had discovered something interesting.
Meanwhile, Jing Xiu saw a head of red hair drift past him, leaving a fresh scent of grass and trees in the air.
Clearly, the owner of that red hair was a girl, and her surname was most likely Uzumaki.
Aside from the red-haired girl, a silver-haired young man also caught Jing Xiu's attention, though he looked unremarkable.
Yet the keen edge radiating from him inevitably reminded Jing Xiu of his friend from his previous life, Li Jinglin, the "Wudang Sword Immortal."
The Uchiha, Hyuga, and Hagoromo clans joined up and entered Kinzawa Castle together.
But once inside Kinzawa Castle, they waited and waited, and still no one from the seven clans came to receive them.
Jing Xiu and Madara looked entirely unbothered. Whatever attitude the other side took, in their eyes, they were either enemies now or enemies in the future.
Hyuga Kiyomei's expression, however, grew increasingly grim.
The seven clans had already made their stance clear through their actions.
"It seems they've chosen the Senju!"
But when Hashirama Senju arrived at Kinzawa Castle...
Hyuga Kiyomei discovered that the Senju Clan received much the same treatment as he had, leaving him rather baffled.
Before long, however, he worked out the reason.
"The seven clans certainly have no shortage of ambition!"
For the past two days, Madara had kept dragging Jing Xiu around Kinzawa Castle to feast.
Izuna was delighted, but Jing Xiu felt rather helpless.
"Jing Xiu, you really should learn from Izuna. Sometimes, you hardly seem like a child!"
Madara tried to persuade Jing Xiu as he ate grilled meat.
Jing Xiu simply ate mouthful after mouthful of meat, letting Madara's words go in one ear and out the other.
"The seven clans have made their attitude perfectly clear. What stance do you think we Uchiha should take?"
Jing Xiu rolled his eyes at Madara. "Madara, I'm only six."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to involve a six-year-old child in major clan affairs?"
With lightning speed, Madara snatched every piece of meat off the grill and stuffed his mouth full.
The provocative look in his eyes left Jing Xiu speechless.
He ignored Madara, but over the next hour, Izuna joined Madara's side as well.
Jing Xiu barely managed to eat a single bite of meat.
He sighed helplessly. "I give up. You two win."
"Madara, have you considered that the seven clans might only be doing this to test the attitudes of the Senju and Uchiha?"
"Isn't it a little rash to jump to the conclusion that they want to establish an independent force and become the Land of Fire's fourth major power?"
Madara was no fool. With Jing Xiu's prompting, he soon understood why the seven clans were acting this way.
If the Uchiha or Senju started thinking of attacking the seven clans simply because they had been slighted...
Then with such narrow-minded leaders, even if the seven clans pledged themselves in their entirety, they would ultimately become nothing more than cannon fodder for a Great Clan.
In truth, the seven clans' best choice was the Hyuga Clan. Once the Hyuga and the seven-clan alliance formed a mutual defense pact...
Neither the Senju nor the Uchiha would be able to move against them lightly.
At the same time, the Hyuga lacked the strength to deal a crippling blow to the seven-clan alliance.
Together, both sides would benefit; apart, both would suffer.
The Land of Fire would then be divided among three powers, giving each clan a chance to catch its breath.
With its advantage in sheer numbers, the seven-clan alliance could use that hard-won "period of stability" to grow stronger.
But Jing Xiu believed that Uchiha Tajima, Butsuma Senju, and Hyuga Tennin could all see the issues involved.
That was why none had come in person. Instead, they had sent the most outstanding members of the next generation.
They were treating this sudden political incident as a required lesson in the young clan leaders' development.
Clans with Jōnin among their ranks, such as the Uzumaki, Hagoromo, Hatake, and Kurama, had similar intentions.
They, too, wanted to see what sort of people the heirs to the three great clans were.
After some thought, Madara still shook his head. "I can't act like Hashirama Senju!"
That single sentence said everything about Madara's character.
He was willing to give the seven-clan alliance a chance, but he could not lower himself to court them as Hashirama Senju would.
Jing Xiu calmly cut into the steak in his hands. "Actually, for us Uchiha, the best outcome would be for the seven-clan alliance not to exist at all."
At a hot spring inn in Kinzawa Castle, Hashirama Senju and his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, were discussing the same subject.
"Brother, the best course would actually be to break up the seven-clan alliance and gradually turn them into our vassals."
Hashirama Senju looked at his younger brother solemnly. "Tobirama, we Senju conduct ourselves honorably and have nothing to hide."
"We have always treated others with compassion. If the seven-clan alliance needs the protection of the Senju Clan, I, Hashirama Senju, will never make things difficult for them."
"But if you intend to resort to schemes and underhanded tricks, I, Hashirama Senju, will be the first to object!"
In an underground chamber somewhere in Kinzawa Castle...
Yamanaka Motoharu, leader of the Yamanaka Clan, and Nara Takamoto, leader of the Nara Clan, were observing Madara's and Hashirama's every move through a special barrier.
It was much like what Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka had done during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
The two were only eavesdropping, not relaying orders as they had during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
As a result, both the barrier's scale and the difficulty of setting it up were far less than during that war.
Hearing Hashirama Senju's words, Yamanaka Motoharu felt satisfied.
Nara Takamoto was still analyzing Madara's personality and approach when he suddenly seemed to lose his perception of Madara and the others.
"Motoharu, what's going on? The Mind Transmission Technique seems to have stopped working on my end!"
Yamanaka Motoharu hurriedly rose to check things over. Only then could Nara Takamoto sense Madara, Izuna, and the others again.
An almost imperceptible smile touched Jing Xiu's lips. I never expected the Yamanaka Clan to have developed the Mind Transmission Technique into a means of long-distance communication this early.
He looked at the oblivious Madara, with no intention of warning him.
After a long silence, Madara said, "I'll try talking to the Shimura clan leader."
Jing Xiu's gaze turned strange, and his thoughts were stranger still. Could it be that, in the original history, Madara failed to reach an understanding with the Shimura clan leader and even gave him a beating?
Was that what made the Shimura Clan hate the Sharingan so deeply?
Dismissing those fanciful thoughts, Jing Xiu still offered Madara no warning.
He could see Tajima's intentions, and his own aligned with them on this trip. More than anything, he wanted to see how Madara handled political problems.
On the way back to their lodgings, Izuna ran around a corner and crashed straight into the silver-haired Tobirama Senju.
Both boys fell to the ground and stared at each other, their eyes full of fighting spirit.
"Uchiha Jing Xiu!"
"Tobirama Senju!"
They shouted each other's names at the same time, but when Izuna heard the name the other boy had called, he was furious.
"You evil white-haired brat! Get this through your head! I'm Uchiha Izuna, the future second head of the Uchiha!"
"That Uchiha Jing Xiu you're talking about is nothing but my foolish little brother!"
"In the future, he's destined to be beneath my heel!"