The Eight Gates are eight specific tenketsu on a person's Chakra Pathway System which limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body. The basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body's limits on the functions within it. This makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon. By undergoing intense training, one can learn how to open these gates allowing the user to surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own body.
- The Gate of Opening (開門, Kaimon), located in the brain, removes the restraints of the brain on the muscles so 100% of the user's strength can be used whereas normally, a person can only use 20% of their muscles' strength to keep them from disintegrating. Unlocking this gate allows the user to use the Front Lotus.
The Gate of Healing (休門, Kyūmon), located in the brain, forcibly increases the user's physical strength and temporarily re-energises the body.
- The Gate of Life (生門, Seimon), located on the spinal cord, allows the user to use the Reverse Lotus. The increased blood flow turns the skin red.
- The Gate of Pain (傷門, Shōmon), located on the spinal cord, increases the user's speed and power. May cause muscle tissue to tear on use.
- The Gate of Limit (杜門, Tomon), located in the abdomen, further increases the user's speed and power.
- The Gate of View (景門 , Keimon), located in the stomach, increases the user's speed and power. Opening of this gate releases such enormous amounts of energy that it can cause nearby water bodies to form a vortex around the user. Once opened, capable users can perform the Morning Peacock.
- The Gate of Wonder (驚門, Kyōmon), located below the stomach, further increases the user's speed and power. Only after this gate is activated can a capable user perform the Daytime Tiger. Those who open this gate will secrete glowing green — blue in the anime — sweat from every inch of their body which immediately evaporates from their own heat energy, creating an aura which people mistake as a chakra coating. Unfortunately, the side effects of opening the gate are that the user's muscle fibres are ripped to shreds, causing intense pain if anything or anyone touches them.
- The Gate of Death (死門, Shimon), located at the heart, requires the user to stab their chest with their thumb to direct the chakra to the tenketsu. Once opened, the user will enter what's known as the Eight Gates Released Formation. Opening this gate will cause the user's blood to emanate a flaming aura of red steam, the so-called Steam of Blood (血の蒸気, Chi no Jōki) from all pores of their body, hair, and eyebrows. Releasing this gate uses up all of the body's energy while making the heart pump at maximum power. Exceeding the power of every other gate, the user is temporarily granted approximately a hundred times their normal power, far beyond that of the five Kage. Once activated, those who are capable can perform the Evening Elephant and the Night Guy. The side effect of opening this gate is that it comes at the expense of the user's life, causing the user to crumble to ash after their chakra runs out, having virtually cooked themselves from the inside-out. This is unlike opening the other gates, which simply injure or damage the body.