The God Tree projection had been summoned by Nawaki's chakra. Existing somewhere between the physical and the ethereal, it could both float in midair in complete defiance of physical laws and hoist Shukaku up with immense force.
Before long, Shukaku's massive body was bound by the God Tree's roots, his five limbs secured in the air.
After restraining Shukaku, Nawaki immediately began forming hand seals for a second jutsu.
Once the seals were complete, a purple blade of light appeared in Nawaki's hand. It was the jutsu used to divide Tailed Beasts—the Soul Blade.
The Soul Blade had originally been developed by the Fourth to work alongside the Reaper Death Seal. It could not only cut chakra, but split even a soul in two, making it ideal for dividing Tailed Beasts. After obtaining the Scroll of Sealing, Nawaki had used the Wish Power System to develop this jutsu ahead of time, and had once used it to divide the Nine-Tails and other Tailed Beasts.
After forming the Soul Blade, Nawaki floated before Shukaku and slashed down at the Tailed Beast, which was dozens of times larger than himself!
"Buzz!"
The Soul Blade turned into a sharp streak of light that swept swiftly across Shukaku's body before vanishing.
A crack appeared down the center of Shukaku's body, and starting from his head, he was evenly split into two halves.
"Roar!"
The agony in his soul made Shukaku let out a frenzied roar. At the same time, the two severed bodies shifted in midair and, in an instant, became two bodies identical to the original Shukaku, though each was half his former size.
Although the Tailed Beasts were ranked by the number of tails they possessed, their true origins were not distributed according to tail count! For example, while the Two-Tails was