#im not saying that i think both of them are scotfree they are both fucked up

[emo-nova]

I am terrified to put my two cents in for Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha on this hell site. Mainly because 1, people are very vocal about their hate and dislike for Tobirama. 2, I tried to have a little look at character analysis for these two and found mostly hate for them.

But this is what I'm analysising them on, both Tobirama and Izuna, their trauma regarding war and their enemy and what caused it and how they reacted. And contrasting them with their brothers, who are humanisated the enemy when they were children.

I'm going to start with Izuna, from what I have gathered through Naruto Wikipedia and manga panels as well as other fan speculation, is that he was also a middle child and had been regarded as a spare to Madara who was the heir. Izuna's trauma comes from war, remembering vividly because of the Sharingan, and the child hunts. He is an angry character, wanting the destruction of all Senju on his death bed and to be avenged, after all, you're dying by a Senju's sword and your siblings killed by Senju. And he was taught to hate them but also that teaching was proved by the skirmishes and the fallout of those skirmishes.

Izuna hasn't had a humanisation of the enemy like Madara had. He knew what they were like through teachings and the battlefield. Madara was taught the same until he met Hashirama and met face to face with someone with the same pains. This is a time where there is no Internet to spread word about different operations within clans, there is no peace to talk freely with eachother, you only have your clan to teach you about the enemy, which they teach you to hate and not think about who they are or why the fight, just to kill and hate the enemy.

I truly believe, that the Izuna and Tobirama's fight was reversed, that Izuna would have turned out to be similar to him.

Here's the reason through my examples of Tobirama. He was the middle child, he was the spare to the heir, his trauma of the war came from fighting and the child hunting and his younger siblings' death. They both have the same traumas and they reacted in a similar way.

Tobirama and Izuna trained hard to kill the enemy, using new techniques to kill the other. They viewed the other as the enemy, their siblings dying by the other clan, their only reference to the other clan is through their clan's teachings and through skirmishes.

Izuna's last breath was to kill the Senju, not to make peace with them, Izuna hated and feared the Senju. He hasn't seen them as humans but other. Dehumanisation of the enemy is a common tactic in real life, especially during war and within the army/military. This is done in these clans to kill others.

Izuna and Tobirama have these ideas due to their clans and due to the war. Hashirama and Madara don't have this to an extent, seeing as they in the end agree to peace due to Madara knowing Hashirama is human and willing to disembowl himself. Tobirama and Izuna never had this for each other.

So, if Izuna were to have swapped positions with Tobirama, there would be a difference within the Leaf. Uchiha's will still be around, Izuna wouldn't want people to marry out of the clan like Tobirama would have done, the Senju would be under surveillance instead. The Senju would properly still be around but they would be restricted. Izuna most likely would have taught others to hate the Senju as well.

What I am saying is that these two characters are messy. They are human. They have trauma as soldiers, and later, they are terrible historical figures. As characters, they are nuanced as they have to deal with living with the enemy since childhood. They can never truly trust them due to fighting them for so long and what they have been taught.

Tobirama, as Hokage, built up the village with plans and legislation and treaties. But his trauma as a child soldier, like Izuna, inhibits him from teaching without prejudice. Am I saying he's a shit man because of it? Yes. But he and Izuna would not simply hug the taught enemy like a brother. Madara and Hashirama could due to meeting and becoming friends when they were younger and out of skirmishes.

What I'm saying is that Tobirama and Izuna are shaped by their trauma. They reacted to that trauma with the sword, and they were taught to be soldiers, not men. These two were used to the chaos of war, and they died in it, do I think they could have been rehabilitated? Yes, though it would be slow.

But they didn't have that. Izuna died hating and cursing the Senju. Tobirama died to save a child from the Uchiha Clan.

Does Tobirama teaching an Uchiha change anything? I am unsure, but it shows growth from his trauma. Would Izuna do the same if he survived instead of Tobirama? I am unsure, possibly due to understanding that they are humans.

As historical figures within Naruto, if roles were swapped, I think it would play in a similar manner. Just with a Senju massacre and possibly also the Uchiha as well, but I'm uncertain. These two, in my opinion, are parallels of each other.

If Tobirama isolated the Uchiha from the Leaf, I truly believe Izuna would have isolated the Senju from the Leaf as well.