The Story Of Chizuru Kagura - The King of Fighters

The third member of the sacred treasures team, Chizuru Kagura, also known as Chizuru Yata is probably the most underrated character in the King of Fighters series. Which is a shame considering that she is one of the most if not the most influential and relevant female character when it comes to the story. 

Since her introduction in KOF 96, Chizuru has always been the center of the plot in every game featuring her. And even in some entries where she is not playable, she continues to be a major figure behind the scenes. Chizuru merits much more love and respect than she gets and I hope through this article, to give her the recognition she deserves.

Legend of Yata Clan

Ever since her young age, Chizuru was raised to be a priestess of the Yata household. Her clan had a major role in sealing the evil entity known as Orochi 1800 years ago. 

And so, as a part of her training, Chizuru learned everything about this critical event and embraced her fate as a member of a family that was destined to guard the Orochi seal. Thanks to her training, Chizuru gained the ability to foretell some future events and even learn a person's past.

Maki Harukawa

Maki Harukawa

Despite being a prodigy child, Chizuru was not the heiress of the Yata clan. As this title went to her twin sister Maki, the oldest and also the strongest of the two. and so, Maki was the one who possessed the 3rd sacred treasure that sealed Orochi, The mirror of Yata.

Chizuru held her sister in high regard and the latter had nothing but love and care for her. When Chizuru started to have a liking for motorcycle racing, It was Maki who had the habit to take care of her bike tuning it up in the best possible way for her sister's next race. 

It goes without saying, Maki and Chizuru were very close to each other. However, their happy life has suddenly come to an end during one sad night. In his relentless attempts to resurrect Orochi, Goenitz, the leader of the Hekkesshu, came to the Yata household with the intention of freeing his master.

Goenitz

Faithfull to her duties as the guardian of the seal, Maki wasn't going to let him accomplish his mission so easily. She fought Goenitz with all her powers, but alas she was on her own. and without the help of the other two clans, the heavenly king had the upper hand and gave the death blow to Maki. 

He then immediately broke the Orochi seal and left satisfied with the results of his actions. On her dying breath, Maki passed her title as the heiress of the Yata clan to Chizuru and asked her to find Kusanagi and Yagami as only the combined force of the 3 sacred treasures can vanquish the Orochi clan and repair the seal. 

Seeing her dear sister passing away in front of her eyes had an unimaginable trauma on Chizuru, but she had no time to mourn her. As the new heiress of the Yata clan, The first thing Chizuru did was to change her name to Kagura which made her hard to find by Goenitz and his followers. 

During the next ten years, She founded the Kagura enterprise and became a very successful businesswoman. At the same time, she closely kept truck of the king of fighters tournaments since its very first edition hosted by Geese Howard. 

She believed that it was her best chance to find the heirs of the other 2 clans, and she was right. The participation of Kyo in KOF 94 and Iori in KOF 95 didn't passed unnoticed by Chizuru. And so the very next year she decided to take action.

The King of Fighters '96

Kof 96 was hosted by Chizuru for the purpose of gathering Kyo and Iori and convincing them to help her repair the seal of Orochi. 

It was a risky move for her knowing that Goenitz and the Orochi clan were looking for her. But Chizuru could no longer hide in the shadows.

The heavenly kings

Kyo's team were the champions of this competition and Chizuru challenged them so she can gauge the strength of the Kusanagi heir herself. 

After their battle, she presented herself to both Kyo and Iori as the guardian of the seal and confessed her true intentions behind sponsoring KOF. But their conversation was cut short when Goenitz, who was looking for Chizuru all this time, made his appearance and couldn't find a better opportunity to kill all three heirs of the clans responsible for his master defeat in the past. 

He underestimated the combined might of the three sacred treasures. With the help of Kyo and Iori who joined them, Chizuru had the support needed to defeat Goenitz. The support that Maki didn't have when she was killed. She finally had her vengeance against the murderer of her sister. 

But Chizuru's true goal was more than selfish revenge. She knew that Goenitz was just a lackey for their real enemy, Orochi who's presence was growing stronger with each passing day menacing to materialize in their world if they didn't do something about it. 

That's why she asked her two companions again to help her replace the seal so they can avoid to deal with Orochi in the future. However, due to their vain and sterile rivalry, Kyo and Iori refused to ally with each other. Rejecting her demand, they left on their separate ways. But Chizuru is not the type to give up so easily. She was determined to acquire their help and she would try to convince them again.

The King of Fighters '97

KOF 96 was a major commercial success in spite of Goenitz's intervention ruining its finale. This achievement encouraged Chizuru to sponsor the following edition of the tournament with the help of other major companies. Her intentions were the same as before but this time she entered the competition as a regular participant and joined the Women fighters team with King and Mai. 

She witnessed with horror Iori turning wild under the influence of the riot of the blood and attacking Kyo's team, and was shocked when the new faces team reveled themselves as the last members of the heavenly kings. 

But nothing was preparing her for the moment she dreaded her entire life The resurrection of the demonic being Orochi. Overcoming her fears, she joined Kyo and Iori for the ultimate fight that would decide the fate of all mankind. 

The three sacred treasures team fought with all that they had and successfully repeated what their ancestors did 1800 years ago. And even when Orochi tried to turn the tables on them at the end, they kept fighting until its complete destruction which let Chizuru seal it at last. 

Once the threat of Orochi eliminated. Chizuru disappeared from the KOF tournaments. She returned to her casual life as the CEO of the Kagura enterprise while assuming her duties as the Yata heir and the guardian of the seal. with the exception of her cameo in 2002 UM, she had no involvement with the Nests crisis.

Sacred Treasures Team

The King of Fighters 2003

Thanks to her ability to foretell future events, Chizuru learned that the seal was going to be broken again. Worried about this ominous prediction, she contacted Kyo and Iori and informed them about it. But the two who apparently did not learn from past events, ignored her cry for help. 

Not too long later, Chizuru fell victim to a mind-control technique from a mysterious woman named Botan who is a member of a secret clan called Those from the past. Botan made Chizuru break the seal of Orochi and secretly organize KOF 2003. 

The reason behind that was to test the competitors and for that purpose, she created a shadow copy of Kyo named the Kusanagi. When K''s team made it to the finals, Chizuru revealed herself as the true host of the tournament. Still, under the control of Botan, she created a copy of her long-dead sister then challenged them into a fight. K'' and his friends managed to defeat her which allowed Chizuru to break free from Botan's mind control. 

Once she regained her senses, she let them handle Botan's companion, Mukai and went immediately to the seal's location in an attempt to repair it. She was at last joined by Iori and Kyo. 

However, an unexpected third person was there as well. Before Chizuru could do anything, Ash crimson took advantage of her weakened state and attacked her from behind. He then stole the Yata mirror within her body and tossed her in the air. 

Succumbing to her multiple injuries, Chizuru lost consciousness in Kyo's arms. She woke up sometime later in the hospital and discovered that she can no longer use her powers.

The King of Fighters 2004

When Shingo came to visit her, she asked him to help Kyo and Iori in their search for Ash. The young man promised her that he would do everything he could to unite the two rivals. Which he did, and the three men entered the next KOF together with the intention to find Ash and make him pay for what he did. 

At the end of the tournament, Chizuru received a visit from Benimaru who came to inform her of what happened. She learned about Magaki's intentions and was sad to hear that Iori suffered from the same fate as she did and that he nearly killed his teammates. 

Chizuru particularly felt bad for Shingo and considered herself responsible for what happened to him. As an apology, she paid his medical treatment bills and sent him a get-well-soon present.

The King of Fighters XIII

Before KOF 13 started, Iori paid a visit to Chizuru and asked her if she had her powers back. It was probably his indirect way of asking her help. 

Unfortunately, she couldn't do much except reminding him that without his sacred jewel, Iori was finally free from the curse of Orochi. Uninterested by this freedom, the Yagami heir was determined to claim his treasure back and promised Chizuru that she would get her mirror back as well. 

Though it was mainly because of Ash's sacrifice at the end of the tournament that they both recovered their powers. Iori chose to claim his flames back while the Yata mirror was at last in the hands of her rightful owner.

The King of Fighters XIV

Even though she was absent in KOF 14, once Verse was destroyed at its climax, Chizuru immediately sensed the presence of Orochi and told Kyo to join her in Hungary where the demon was resurrected. 

There they met Iori who came on his own and the trio found Orochi straggling in a weakened state. Having no pity for the evil being, the three sacred treasures team launched a combined attack that destroyed it one more time.

Fighting Style & Powers

The powers of the Yata mirror allow Chizuru to use a huge variety of techniques both for her fighting attacks and passive abilities. With the perfect timing, she can reflect projectiles including the most devastating ones. 

And with the use of the mirror's energy, she can throw even the biggest enemies away from her. Chizuru's most famous technique is her mirror image where she creates a copy of herself that disappears just after its attack. With little effort, she can make the copy attack more than once and stay for  longer time. She also has the ability to switch places with her copy to follow up its attack with another of her own. 

However, this technique is not perfect yet. if one of her copies is attacked, Chizuru takes damage as well. As the guardian of the Orochi's seal, she is the only person who can imprison the legendary entity. 

But Orochi is not the only thing Chizuru can seal. In fact, she can seal anybody's powers for a few seconds drastically reducing their attacks as they would have nothing to use but their normals. 

When it comes to her passive abilities, her repertoire is even bigger. Chizuru can create shadow copies of living and dead people as it was the case with the Kusanagi and Maki's illusion in 2003. 

She also has the ability to teleport. Although we never saw her use this power, when Ash stole her mirror, he became immediately able to teleport which implies that Chizuru had this faculty all along. 

One of her strongest and scariest skills is Telepathy. Chizuru can talk into other peoples mind, learn about their past and even possess them if she wanted. And let's not forget her foretelling ability which allows her to predict some future events. She is a priestess after all. Despite all these impressive powers that are more suited for a final boss then a regular character, her sister Maki was even stronger. 

Put it simply, she had all of Chizuru's strengths and none of her weaknesses. For instance, Maki's mirror images worked as projectiles, meaning even if one of her copies was hit, she would be totally fine, and she could create more than just one at a time. Fun fact, in KOF 96, if you play as the 3 sacred treasures team, the Chizuru that you fight before the final boss reveals herself to be Maki informing the trio that she wants to test her sister strength. Although the presence of Maki in 96 is non canon, it's still a nice detail. 

With Antonov, she is the only character to have hosted a tournament with no ill intentions. Maybe it's no coincidence that even their stages look similar in both regular and destroyed shape. Unlike the heirs of the other two clans, Chizuru is polite and well-mannered. When she asks for their help, it's always in a considerate way despite being ignored most of the time due to their immature rivalry. 

She's the voice of reason that holds the team together. Without her guidance, Iori and Kyo would be totally clueless. Since the death of her sister, Chizuru's life was nothing but work and duty which had an impact on her personality making her a very serious and stern character.

But the short time she spent with King and Mai in 97 allowed her to chill and lighten up a little. Her awkward dancing when she wins a fight is proof that Chizuru just started learning to enjoy the little moments and determined to recover the life that was stolen from her.