both true, but u were missing a jutsu in order to use kirin. once you have the thundercloud ready, you use chidori to take control of the lightning cloud and the lightning within the cloud itself, and then you have it strike *lightning strikes from far away* O_O your opponent. it can only be avoided with space/time jutsu as well.
so, now, prepare for kirin by using great dragon fire to form the lightning cloud, wait for a bit (however long u think a turn would usually take lol) and then use chidori to take control of the cloud, and then finish with kirin on that dummy right there.
even though kirin is usually an auto kill, be warned. instead of you using kirin on your next turn after the preparations for it have been made on ur current turn, your opponent could turn it against you, and have you killed instead. (just speaking from experience here. ive seen it done before. lol) so if ur gonna prepare to use kirin, make sure that you have your opponent completely occupied so that way you can finish them on ur next move.