TAIJUTSU, the eight gates

[attr="class","nintales-title"]opening the eight gates,

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The Eight Gates are eight specific tenketsu (chakra points) along a person’s chakra pathway system. They exist in order to limit the flow of chakra, protecting the harming of the body through overexertion. Normally, an individual can use no more than 20% of their body’s full potential as a result of the gates.
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However, with training, shinobi can learn to remove these limiters, referred to as “opening” the gates. With each opened gate, they are given access to more and more of their body’s chakra, increasing their physical strength and speed dramatically.
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Learning to open any of the gates is extremely difficult and similarly exceptionally dangerous to the user. The increased power causes the shinobi substantial harm; at the least, they will end up so fatigued they are incapable of movement and vulnerable to attacks, in more extreme cases, muscles can tear and bones can break from the strain, causing permanent paralysis. If an individual opens the eighth and final gate, they will die as a consequence, with their bodies unable to survive recovering from the damage.

[attr="class","nintales-subtitle"]WHAT ARE THE EIGHT GATES?

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The Eight Gates are described as a double-edged sword, empowering users by sacrificing their own health and safety. When opening any of the gates, the user opens all preceding gates as well (if there are any). To open all at once is known as the Eight Gates Released Formation. There are certain prerequisites a character must fulfil before being able to open and use the Eight Gates.[break][break]


Removes the user’s mental inhibitions. Upon opening, the shinobi is able to surpass their former limits for fatigue, allowing them to fight for longer while ignoring their depleting stamina at the cost of feeling extreme fatigue and pain after its effects wear off.[break][break]


Increases the user’s physical strength. Upon opening, this gate re-energizes the body, enabling it to rapidly recover from exhaustion. The first two gates are the easiest to open and master.[break][break]


Turns the user’s skin red when opened due to increasing their chakra flow. Upon opening this gate, the user releases a significant amount of chakra from their bodies, allowing them to execute more special techniques, but increasing their risk of suffering severe injury.[break][break]


Increases the user’s physical capabilities, but causes their muscles to painfully tear and their noses to bleed. Upon opening, this gate removes limitations on the user’ muscles and bone structure, tripling their physical strength and speed.[break][break]


Increases the explosive force behind the user’s physical blows. This gate is typically opened as a blow is about to be delivered, thus making the most of its power. The user’s nose will start bleeding once this gate is opened, and while each of their strikes possesses tremendous force, it also produces countless micro fractures along the bone, and cannot be maintained for long.[break][break]


Increases all of the user’s senses and physical parameters even further beyond. Once opened, the power (visually a green shroud) that emanates from the shinobi is enough to displace surrounding bodies of water. The user’s punches are also so fast with this gate opened that their friction with the air produces flames.[break][break]


Causes the user’s body to secrete a blue sweat that immediately evaporates, causing the aura around them that can easily be mistaken for chakra. Opening this gate makes each of the user’s strikes hit like bullets and increases their accuracy. However, once the effect wears off, the shinobi’s muscle fibers are so damaged that even the slightest touch will cause them excruciating pain.[break][break]


The final gate and located in the heart. Users open this gate by puncturing their chest with their thumb, directing chakra there. While open, their heart pumps at maximum speed, granting them power over one hundred times greater than they are usually capable of, and even further beyond that of the five kage. A “steam of blood” is emited from their pores, resembling a flaming red aura. The opening of this gate always results in death, as it removes all limitations and causes the body to continuously heat up until it’s been literally cooked from the inside out, reducing them to mere ash.

[attr="class","nintales-subtitle"]WHAT USING THE EIGHT GATES MEANS IN ROLEPLAY

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With enough knowledge and practice in taijutsu, any character is able to learn how to open at least the first three of the Eight Gates and purchase and use the techniques associated with them. The rest of the gates, especially the seventh and eighth gates, will require special prerequisites to be met. Note that if a character learns how to open and uses the Eighth Gate, they will die at the conclusion of the thread without exception. Each technique within the eight gates can only be used once per thread, and the Eight Gates can only be used once per thread as well; characters can progressively 'open' gates to extend the duration by one post per gate at increasingly greater risk to themselves, but once the effects wear off, the gates cannot be opened again in the same thread. [break][break]

For roleplay purposes, 'The Eight Gates' will be classified as an ability on Ninja-Tales and measured in the same way the rest of our abilities are. The level of proficiency a character has with 'The Eight Gates' will determine how many of the gates they are able to open. A breakdown of this can be found immediately below.[break][break]


The character can open the first three gates for two posts at a time. This ability can be learned or purchased if:[break]
▶ Character's taijutsu proficiency is level Adept or higher.[break]
▶ Character is a shinobi and at least Genin rank.[break][break]


The character can open the first three gates for three posts at a time. This ability can be learned or purchased if:[break]
▶ Character's taijutsu proficiency is level Adept or higher.[break]
▶ Character is a shinobi and at least genin rank.[break]
▶ Character has completed at least in one training thread focused on honing their mastery of the Eight Gates.[break][break]


The character can open the first five gates for three posts at a time. This ability can be learned or purchased if:[break]
▶ Character's taijutsu proficiency is level Expert or higher.[break]
▶ Character is a shinobi and at least chūnin rank.[break]
▶ Character has completed at least in two training threads focused on honing their mastery of the Eight Gates.[break][break]


The character can open the first six gates for four posts at a time. This ability can be learned or purchased if:[break]
▶ Character's taijutsu proficiency is level Master.[break]
▶ Character is a shinobi and at least chūnin rank.[break]
▶ Character has completed at least in three training threads focused on honing their mastery of the Eight Gates.[break][break]


The character can open all eight gates for four posts at a time. This ability can be learned or purchased if:[break]
▶ Character's taijutsu proficiency is level Master.[break]
▶ Character is a shinobi and at least jōnin rank.[break]
▶ Character has opened all gates up to the sixth at least once in a now-completed thread.[break]
▶ Character has completed at least in four training threads focused on honing their mastery of the Eight Gates.

[attr="class","nintales-subtitle"]EIGHT GATES TECHNIQUES

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Want to add a technique to this list? Submit your ideas here. Characters cannot start with the ability to open any of the Eight Gates, no matter their rank, level, or position. You will have to purchase any techniques you submit if you want to use them.[break][break]


(B-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The first gate must be opened. The user kicks an opponent high into the air before taking hold of them and sending them spinning headfirst into the ground, releasing them right before impact to prevent damage to themselves.[break][break]


(B-RANK // RANGE: MEDIUM // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The second gate must be open. Instead of grabbing an opponent, the shinobi spins in midair to gather strong winds around them before diving down on an opponent with devastating force. The effect radius of this technique is quite large.[break][break]


(B-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The second gate must be open. The user delivers a roundhouse kick to an opponent with such speed that they appear as a mere blur to the untrained eye. The force behind the kick is equivalent to being hit by a train— strong enough to throw a regular-sized human through several buildings at least.[break][break]


(A-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The third gate must be open. The user becomes so fast it is difficult to follow their movements even with dōjutsu as they strike their target from multiple directions, pummelling them into the air and back down to the ground in a barrage of at least two dozen furious attacks. If the final blow of this technique doesn’t finish off an opponent, the user is left vulnerable for a short period of time directly after as they fight off fatigue.[break][break]


(A-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The sixth gate must be open. Kicks an enemy into the air with extreme force before following them and punching over two dozen times. The punches are so fast they are set ablaze by friction, which in turn creates a fan of flames around the opponent. At its conclusion, the opponent crashes back into the ground aflame. The fire produced by this technique is strong enough to evaporate entire lakes and water jutsu up to B-Rank.[break][break]


(S-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The seventh gate must be open. The user takes a peculiar stance, holding their hands before them and bringing them together, creating a massive amount of air pressure before launching it at an opponent in the shape of a gigantic tiger. This air pressure explodes on command, causing a devastating blast that can dwarf an entire island and be felt a significant distance away.[break][break]


(S-RANK // RANGE: SHORT // DURATION: NA // CD: ONCE PER THREAD) The eighth gate must be open. The user executes a continuous assault of five punches, with each being performed faster than before. Each step of this technique creates a cannon of pressurized air bearing the appearance of an elephant’s leg, hence its namesake. Every one of these punches is able to create a deep crater in the ground, and when executed altogether, can pulverize and completely incapacitate a Tailed Beast at full transformation. Difficult to dodge and always lethal if it hits its target, the shinobi trades their life to use this technique.