Outer Path

Outer Pathedit
外道­ (Gedō)
Name
Alternative names	Seventh Pain
Debut
Manga	Volume #48, Naruto Chapter #449
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #174
Game	Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
Appears in	Anime, Manga, Game
Data
Classification	Kekkei Genkai, Ninjutsu, Dōjutsu
Class	Offensive, Supplementary
Other jutsu
Parent jutsu	Six Paths Technique
Derived jutsu
Demonic Statue Chains Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique Six Paths of Pain
Users
Nagato Obito Uchiha Sage of the Six Paths

The Outer Path (外道, Gedō) is the seventh path, an ability granted to the wielder of the Rinnegan. With the Outer Path, the user is able to control life and death by reviving the dead, bind and restrict foes, as well as create and control the Six Paths of Pain.

Overview

Because this path ability gives him power over life and death, Nagato could use the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to resurrect Madara Uchiha by summoning his soul from the mouth of the King of Hell and be brought back to life. However, to Obito's dismay, Nagato chose to use his ability to revive the populace of Konohagakure which killed him in the process. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kabuto Yakushi made note of how he could have Nagato kill the jinchūriki temporarily, store their souls in the King of Hell and then revive them at a later time.

With the Outer Path, Nagato also devised the Six Paths of Pain by transmitting chakra directly to other bodies, turning that body into an extension of the user able to relay visual information to him, as do the creatures summoned through the Animal Path technique and the King of Hell. After obtaining the Rinnegan, Obito took Nagato's Six Paths of Pain to another level with the reincarnated jinchūriki by using chakra chains to maintain his control over the Tailed Beasts in his possession.

Fukasaku being revived with the Outer Path: Samsara of the Heavenly Life Technique.

Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Tobi and his Six Paths.png

Obito's Six Paths of Pain.

A first-person perspective of the Paths' linked vision.

Four-Tails Resealed.png

The chains being used by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Five-Tails subdued.png

The Five-Tails being subdued with the chains.

Trivia

• Gedō (外道, literally meaning: Outer Path), derived from the Sanskrit Tīrthika, refers to any doctrine which "treads the outer path" to enlightenment. This is opposed to the teachings of orthodox Buddhism, the Naidō (内道, literally meaning: Inner Path), and is thus considered misguided and heretical.
• The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path may be related to this ability, due to the name.
• Naruto referred to the control of the Six Paths of Pain as Gedō no Jutsu (外道の術, literally meaning: Outer Path Technique), and that the Paths' ability to share visual information with the original body stemmed from that technique.