Rifle

Rendered in katakana as Raifuru, Rifle is the long-range Transformation ability used by Kaina Tsutsumi, better known as Lady Nagant. It debuts in Chapter 311 and Episode 133. The power protrudes and retracts a rifle from the user's right elbow, and Snipe put its reach at three kilometers.

Kaina folds her arm so that her hand meets her shoulder, opens a cavity at the elbow, and the weapon emerges. It is built from her own tissue, with a bipod of semi-liquid sinew that retracts and a chamber opening in her palm for loading. Since nothing combusts, the gun behaves as an air rifle driven by bone and muscle, producing neither a report nor a muzzle flash and keeping her position hidden. A tendril of flesh can curl out of her arm to serve as a scope, and she can force the weapon to expand and bulge for far greater muzzle velocity, at the risk of jamming it.

Her ammunition comes off her head. She kneads strands of it like epoxy putty, shaping hollow points, curving rounds, or bullets carrying radio gear, and once set they harden to match any conventional ammo. She can build them mid-fight or stock them in a utility belt beforehand. With no gunpowder to burn off, the rounds hold velocity and range well past ordinary bullets, keep their shape through impact, and punch through flesh and hard matter alike; Izuku Midoriya rated one as hitting harder than a Howitzer Impact from Katsuki Bakugo, and they tore the hands off Tomura Shigaraki's modified body without difficulty. Being caseless, they leave no brass behind and stay reusable.

The hair supply is also the liability. Distinctive dark blue and pink bullets identified her to Izuku immediately, and her hair must stay long or she runs dry of ammunition against numerous or evasive enemies. Loading and chambering each round individually implies a limited capacity and a slow cycle that an alert opponent could use to close distance or counterattack. The rifle itself can be broken by anyone quick enough to dodge and strike from up close, and it does not appear to mend itself, since Kaina bound hers with bandages while shooting from the roof of Central Hospital. Firing while badly wounded strains her body, reopening her injuries during the Final War.

Kaina is the only holder, and the Quirk made her Japan's top sniper, ranking above Snipe, who noted she outstripped Homing's six hundred meter ceiling on skill alone and described her as the human form of a sniper rifle. Heroes with long-range abilities across the country admired and envied her. She hit Izuku despite his Danger Sense, fires accurately with the barrel pointed behind her back, and claims nobody except him has ever stopped two consecutive shots from her. She proved her range by sniping Tomura Shigaraki on the floating U.A. fortress from ground level in a raging rainstorm; only a Smokescreen has meaningfully hindered her.

All For One prized her, judging her skill well beyond the other Tartarus inmates, and the Air Walk he gave her opened aerial firing positions, which she holds by shooting backward and riding the recoil forward. Microphones installed in her custom rounds let her pass messages across long distances in real time. She uses the weapon in close quarters as well, retracting it and shooting it back out to drive the barrel into Izuku's stomach before trying to fire on him. Beros' Longbow is a comparable ability, converting a portion of the user's arm into a weapon for long-distance fire.