#no but actually i am sure this leads to disastrous political issues and izuna having a small psychotic break over his personal identity

[doveywovy]

06 not realizing they’re injured

unhealthy coping mechanisms/healed wrong/"it's not my blood"

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After the last of his little brothers dies, Tobirama learns to always sense Hashirama's chakra. It's a drain on his own resources, if a trickle of one- but he starts when he's nine years old, and a trickle is a dangerous amount.

He does it anyways, and his abilities adjust around it. The relief of always knowing where Hashirama is has a massive impact on his ability to actually sleep at night. When he's twelve, he pushes himself so he can track Toka's chakra as well. Learning to divide his attention- between his brother, his cousin, and whatever task is at hand- is not easy. He gets migraines, makes mistakes. In the end he manages, and from there it's only natural to expand.

He can't manage all the Senju, but he can keep an eye out for the children. For the one civilian who reminds him of his mother, for his brother and his cousin.

And eventually, for Izuna.

That's from a different kind of paranoia. If he knows where Izuna is, it halves the threat he presents. He might not be able to keep an eye on all the Senju, but at least he knows where one of the greatest threats against them always is. He keeps a closer watch on Izuna's chakra than he does anyone but Hashirama's.

(It's easy to follow. It's distinct from the Senju, burning hot and crackling with energy, less like a fire and more like a lightning bolt. If he turns his full attention to it, which he rarely if ever does, it sends a shivering zap through his own system like static shock leaping between fingertips.)

Perhaps it was a mistake. Lumping Izuna in with his loved ones. Or perhaps the mistake was relying on the sensation of the man's chakra in the winter months, a warm fire banked compared to his own frigid nature. Perhaps allowing himself to cling to anyone's chakra at all, even Hashirama's, was the real mistake.

Regardless- he snaps into action when he wakes up to the sensation of someone's chakra sputtering out, using the Hiraishin to travel the distance- three jumps more than he's ever done before, a strain on his body that distracts him as much as the frantic feeling of chakra flaring and struggling as it's tamped back down that drives him on.

He saves Izuna. It's only after he's done it that he realizes his mistake, and by then it's too late.