Rifle is the Quirk used by Kaina Tsutsumi.
Description#
With this Quirk, the user can protrude and retract a rifle gun from their right elbow.
Kaina bends her arm up so that her hand is to her shoulder and opens a cavity in her elbow, from which the rifle comes out of. The rifle seems to be made out of organic matter, using a semi-liquid sinew as a retractable bipod. She loads the bullets she makes with her moldable hair into a hole that opens up on her palm, which she uses to reload her ammo. According to Snipe, Rifle has a range of three kilometers.[1]
As the rifle is made up of organic matter and doesn't require explosive (but noisy and flashy) combustion to propel bullets, it is a relatively stealthy weapon as an air rifle, using the propulsion provided by her Quirk's usage of bone and muscle sinew to propel the rounds, leaving behind no audible explosive crack nor muzzle flash from her rifle's barrel. She can also manifest a tendril of flesh from her arm that she can curl up and act as a rifle scope, allowing her to make more precise shots if needed.[2] Another attribute of her gun is that she can dramatically increase its power output, causing the gun to expand and bulge out. This greatly increases the velocity of her shots, though it does run the risk of jamming her gun.[3]
She can remove parts of her hair to mix and mold the fibers like epoxy putty into all kinds of special bullets, such as hollow point bullets, bullets with radio capabilities, or bullets that curve. These hair bullets harden and become just as strong as any ammo. She can create these bullets to use on the fly or store them in a utility belt for later.[1]
The bullets possess no gunpowder that burn out quickly, and causes ordinary bullets to lose momentum and distance, allowing for a greater effective range than conventional rounds. They also maintain their shape during and after impact, and possess great penetrating power against both flesh and inorganic matter, to the point of being described as much stronger than one of Katsuki Bakugo's Howitzer Impacts by Izuku Midoriya.[1] The best example of this is when they were able to tear off the hands of the incredibly durable modified body of Tomura Shigaraki's effortlessly, something only Izuku himself is seen being capable of.[4]
They are also caseless, leaving behind no brass shell casings that would identify Kaina's original sniping position; this also allows the bullets to be simultaneously reusable and easily disposable.
Weaknesses#
Since Kaina's bullets are made from her hair, they can be used to identify her. This is shown when Izuku recognized it was her targeting him after seeing the dark blue and pink bullet that was shot at him.[5] Additionally, because her bullets are made from her hair, she has to keep her hair long in order to maintain a sufficient ammo reserve for successive or prolonged fire against multiple foes (or even highly evasive ones). The shorter her hair, the fewer bullets she can mold them into.
Kaina is also implied to have not only a limited capacity in her rifle, but either a slow rate of fire and/or a lengthy reload time due to having to load and re-chamber each round individually. Attentive foes can theoretically use this lull to close the distance or stage a counterattack.[2]
Kaina's rifle is vulnerable to being damaged or broken should an enemy be quick enough to evade her shots and launch a strong attack from up close.[3] Being a part of Kaina's body, it is unknown whether the rifle will repair itself or must be fixed manually. However, it appears to be the latter, as Kaina used her bandages to hold it together while sniping from the rooftop of Central Hospital.[6]
Using her Quirk while being seriously injured can also cause a huge strain on Kaina's body. This was evident when her wounds began to reopen after she fired a bullet towards Tomura Shigaraki during the Final War.[4]
Usage#
Thanks to her Rifle Quirk, Kaina, also known as Lady Nagant, is considered Japan's top sniper, above the likes of Snipe, and was admired and envied by Heroes with long-range Quirks all over Japan. Snipe expressed how she could far exceed his Homing Quirk's 600 meter range with pure skill alone, and went as far as to call her a sniper rifle in human form.[1] This impressive range was further demonstrated when even despite Tomura being on the floating U.A. fortress miles above the ground, she was able to accurately snipe him from atop Central Hospital on the ground below, while also in a raging rainstorm.[4]
Lady Nagant's marksmanship itself is based solely on pure skill and smart use of her custom bullets, even installing microphones in them so she can send real time messages from and across long distances. She has incredible control and precision with her Quirk, as she managed to get a hit on Deku despite him having Danger Sense. Her control is so precise that she can fire accurately with her rifle pointed behind her back. She also claims that no one has ever blocked two of her shots in a row, except Deku. As expected of a sniper, Nagant maintains her distance from her targets and fires continuous bullets to keep them at bay. Bad weather also does not seem to affect her performance, although a Smokescreen can deter her sniping to an extent.[2]
All For One himself recognized Lady Nagant's prowess and later referred to Rifle as a "blessing of a Quirk". He also stated that her skill easily exceeds that of the other Tartarus inmates. Thanks to Air Walk, gifted to her by All For One, Lady Nagant gains additional vantage points in mid-air. She can move by shooting behind her with Rifle, using the recoil to propel herself forward and keep her altitude.[2] She also utilizes Rifle for melee combat, as demonstrated when she retracted her rifle and protruded it to strike Deku in the stomach before attempting to shoot him.[7]