After some time, Uchiha Gakugyo walked in. "Young Lord Izuna, go get something to eat. I'll watch him for a while."
Izuna felt the emptiness in his stomach and nodded before leaving the makeshift prison.
Soon, an Uchiha chunin brought him a bowl of soup made from wild vegetables and boar meat.
"Young Lord Izuna."
"Thank you."
"Not at all. If you hadn't saved us today, I would have died on that battlefield," the chunin said, his face full of admiration.
Izuna noticed that one of the man's eyes had lost its luster and turned completely white. He frowned. "Did you use Izanagi?"
Izanagi was a forbidden technique even within the Uchiha clan, an ultimate genjutsu that could warp reality.
The chunin covered his blind left eye and gave a wry smile. "I did. But losing an eye is a small price to pay for keeping my life."
After a bit more small talk, the chunin left. Izuna sat casually on a nearby stone platform, savoring the soup, which had been seasoned with a little salt. In the Warring States period, this was a feast.
"Izuna," a voice said.
It was Uchiha Madara.
"Ah, brother," Izuna replied. The two brothers sat facing each other.
"Thank you for today. I don't know how many more of our clansmen would have been sacrificed otherwise."
It was hard to reconcile these words with the man who would one day be known as the Asura of the ninja world. But according to the reanimated Senju Hashirama, Madara had always been a man of deep affection and loyalty before Uchiha Izuna's death. It was the events that followed that changed him, ultimately setting him on a path of no return.
"Brother, you were about to use your Mangekyo, weren't you?" Izuna asked. Like Hashirama, he could sense the cold chakra it emitted.
Madara shrugged with a bitter smile. "I hate to admit it, but without the Mangekyo, I can't defeat Hashirama." A moment later, his confidence returned, and he declared proudly, "But even with its side effects, I will use this power to defeat him. I won't lose the next battle."
*No, you'll still lose,* Izuna thought to himself.
Though he'd only seen the latter half, he had witnessed part of Madara and Hashirama's fight. Hashirama hadn't awakened his Wood Release yet, but his wounds were already healing automatically thanks to its latent chakra. It was a sign. Izuna predicted that Hashirama would awaken Wood Release very soon. When that happened, Madara would be almost completely overwhelmed.
But Izuna didn't want to crush his brother's fragile confidence, so he remained silent.
Fortunately, Madara changed the subject. "But do you really think the Senju will agree to your terms?"
"No," Izuna answered without hesitation.
Based on his assessment, there was no way the Senju would agree to withdraw from the Uchiha territory around Mount Congyun. As for full reparations and a five-year truce... it was almost—no, it was absolutely impossible. The Uchiha and Senju had been at war for centuries; there was no precedent for a truce lasting even half a year.
"Then why did you propose such terms?" Madara asked, surprised.
Izuna clicked his tongue internally. *Uchiha Madara's strength is undeniable, but his political acumen and emotional intelligence are seriously lacking. No wonder he was outmaneuvered by the weaker Senju Tobirama. When he finally left Konoha, not a single Uchiha was willing to follow him.*
"It's about setting a high price," Izuna explained. "It's like selling vegetables. You name a price, but you never expect to actually get it. You make an opening offer, then they bargain you down, and you finally settle on a price both sides can accept. It's the same principle in war negotiations."
Madara listened, looking dumbfounded. He still didn't quite understand. His way of thinking was simple: if there was an enemy, you just charged forward and crushed them.
Izuna shrugged. It didn't matter if he didn't get it.
***
Just as Izuna had predicted, on the other side of Mount Congyun, in the Senju camp, a dozen of the clan's top leaders, headed by Senju Yuma and Senju Hashirama, were in the midst of a heated debate over Izuna's demands.
To save someone as important as Tobirama, a truce with the Uchiha was inevitable. But to completely accept Izuna's terms was out of the question.
After nearly three hours of discussion, the Senju leaders decided to go with the proposal put forth by Senju Yuma.
"Will the Uchiha agree to these terms?" Hashirama asked with a frown.
Yuma clapped him on the shoulder. "You still have much to learn about politics. Uchiha Izuna's demands seemed outrageous, but he never actually expected us to agree. He was waiting for us to 'bargain down'."
Hashirama's political sense was sharper than Madara's, but he couldn't help but ask, "Izuna really thought that far ahead?"
"Hmph," Yuma snorted. "That little fox. He may not have Madara's raw power, but his cunning is no less than his old man, Uchiha Tajima's. And he actually managed to capture Tobirama... I don't know what trick he used."
*Does that mean Izuna is now stronger than Tobirama?* Hashirama wondered silently.
***
Early the next morning, the Uchiha and Senju gathered once more on the blood-soaked battlefield of Mount Congyun.
"Did you bring it?" Uchiha Gakugyo asked in a low voice.
Although the future undoubtedly belonged to the two pairs of brothers—Madara and Izuna, Hashirama and Tobirama—for now, the most senior and experienced members of the clans were of Gakugyo and Yuma's generation. Thus, they were the ones leading the talks.
Senju Yuma took out two scroll documents. "Where is Tobirama?"
Uchiha Gakugyo stepped aside, and Izuna emerged, holding Tobirama. His face was impassive. "Sign the truce, then we'll release him."
"Tobirama!" Hashirama called out anxiously.
"I'm fine, brother," Tobirama replied.
Uchiha Gakugyo and Senju Yuma sat opposite each other on two simple seats. Yuma unrolled one of the scrolls, revealing the contents of the truce.
There were three main points:
1. The Senju will withdraw from the west of Mount Congyun and return all previously occupied Uchiha territory.
2. The Senju will compensate the Uchiha for twenty percent of their losses in this battle.
3. A two-year truce will be enacted, during which neither the Uchiha nor the Senju may set foot in the other's territory.