If my senses weren't so connected to literally every inch of the surrounding miles and it hadn't been moving I honestly wouldn't have even noticed it. This was enough to raise goosebumps all over my arms because there was no way I couldn't understand the implication of that. This thing could be sitting no less than a meter away from me when my senses were at their normal level and I'd have no clue at all unless it moved.-
"Hmm, it seems the boy is more cautious than anticipated. How troublesome. A person of that caliber may prove problematic to the plan and we hoped we'd be able to get rid of him early." One voice spoke from the green haired side of the thing.
To my surprise a totally different voice spoke from the black side of it. "He will only have a small impact even if he grows to that level but it would have been better if we could have removed this unpredictable factor now before it can grow to it's full potential. A natural born sage would have a unique impact on what is to come after all." the things heavy gruff voice said and I shuddered.
'IT KNOWS!' I thought in horror and for the briefest instant the overwhelming urge to destroy this thing appeared but I crushed it down as logic told me that was a VERY bad idea.
This thing was not strong exactly but all my senses told me that killing it fully would require so much force that I would definitely expose my location in the process. That said there was nothing that stopped me from making it's stealth useless against me. I focused on the thing and gathered up the natural energy in my senses full range before branding the thing with all that energy despite this making it freak out.-
'Sage art: Natures Awareness!' I thought as the brand of natural energy sank into every cell of the thing.
It tried quite hard to rid itself of the brand as it fled but I sneered at it because this was no simple thing to remove. What this did was permanently alter ones signature as far as natural energy was concerned to the point the one with it shone like a beacon to any sage in the area paying attention. The best part though was that not even by getting rid of every cell in ones body could it be gotten rid of as it applied to ones very soul via their chakra as well.-
I had gotten the idea from the odd seal that Orochimaru gave Sasuke during the Chunin exams. the seal was oddly enough made mostly of natural energy set in a specific configuration that was rather unrefined and savage really but effectively gave the one with the seal an imperfect form of sage mode by stuffing their bodies with natural energy that is kept from overwhelming their bodies just barely.-
Creating a brand out of pure natural energy based on this idea was childs play for me as I was willing to bet everything I had that there was not a single living person with as much control over natural energy as me. I didn't really plan to ever use this technique after I figured out how to do it but for this situation it was perfect despite it not having any offensive capabilities. A thing that even I could sense without extraordinary circumstances that also wanted me dead was not something I wanted to exist.-
Before anyone gets any funny ideas about me being able to use this brand to allow others to become sages I want to clarify that it didn't work like that, or rather COULDN'T work like that. Even the seal Orochimaru put on Sasuke didn't just grant sage mode but rather forced the users body into a similar state by forcibly clashing natural energy and their chakra. Frankly speaking it was way more harmful than helpful as this clash does serious damage to ones body. In fact I reckon that each use took years off the users lifespan but at such a small amount at a time that it was difficult to notice.-
Sage mode was achieved through a perfect fusion of chakra and natural energy at a specific ratio following the users intent, my body being the exception rather than the rule. In other words it can't just be "gifted" to someone even by me. The full extent of my ability was to make it easier for someone to feel natural energy and to extract it from them if they lost control of it. I could also force it into someone's body if I wanted but that was more likely to kill them than anything else.-
So while I was able to make it easier and safer for someone to achieve sage mode I couldn't just give it to someone. Not that I would have even if I could as I was more than aware that such power would likely cause irreparable harm to the world. A single sage can do a lot of good if they set their minds to it but they can cause far more harm with the same level of determination. Knowing this I was perfectly fine with leaving sage mode as rare as it is. Clearly the sage beasts of the world were of a similar mindset as they only taught at most a single person at a time sage mode.-
Anyways with that stealthy thing now rendered impossible to miss for me I turned my attention back to those hunting me. It took awhile but eventually all of these groups eventually tracked me back to the location far above me after finding my shadow clones. Shinobi weren't stupid normally so once they figured out that I had sent out shadow clones to throw off the trail they began looking far more closely at any "me" they came across. By process of elimination or plain luck they all eventually found the location above me.-
It was sort of amusing to watch them all try the same thing as Kakuzu only to get angry when it became clear that I had made it pretty much impossible to follow me. A few of them chose to chase after Kakuzu and that immortals tracks thinking that they would know about it or if anything were me in disguise. I almost pitied the poor bastards as those two were definitely the sort to kill those who had the audacity to follow their tracks. Then again they were after my life so fuck them.-
I also got a total head count on the Root shinobi that Danzo sent after me and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. A total of fifty two shinobi all at the special Jonin or Jonin level which if i wasn't wrong was almost ALL of Danzo's root members at that level. He used to have a lot more but then the Third Hokage took most of them from the bastard so seeing that he was willing to risk so much to kill me was surprising.