Kiba Inuzuka

Kiba Inuzuka

Kiba Inuzuka (犬塚 キバ Inuzuka Kiba^?) is a member of Team 8 characterized by a number of dog-like traits such as being very protective of his teammates and extremely keen senses such as smell. Most apparent of his connection to dogs is the constant presence of his ninja dog (忍犬 ninken^?), Akamaru. Kiba is fiercely loyal to Akamaru, unwilling to abandon him and putting himself in harm's way for Akamaru's sake.^[ch. 204] In exchange for Kiba's devotion, Akamaru fights with him in battle; he uses his heightened senses to Kiba's advantage, and helps to double-team opponents with volleys of physical attacks. Since Akamaru is naturally better equipped for combat, Kiba usually modifies his own abilities at the start of a battle, growing claws and traveling on all four limbs to increase his speed.^[ch. 75] He can also drastically increase his sense of smell, and by the second half of the series he can use it to track things dogs cannot.^[ch. 364] Kiba's voice actor in the Japanese anime is Kōsuke Toriumi, and his English voice actor is Kyle Hebert.^[20][33]