The correct answer is A) they made alliances with Europeans.
Native leaders held on to power after the Spanish and Portuguese conquest in that they made alliances with Europeans.
Native leaders realized that the European conquerors had powerful weapons unknown to Indian tribes and some preferred to make alliances with them instead of fight against them. That was the case of the Tlaxcanteans or Cholulans, enemies of the Aztec Empire during those years. with the help of a Nahua woman translator, Malinche o Mallinntzin, Cortez could get some relationship with these tribes helped the Spanish conquerors to defeat the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan.