Ponta

is a tanuki who is an animal companion of the master enka music ninja, Sabu. Ponta is apparently more observant than Sabu, as he was the first to detect Kisame Hoshigaki's presence and the first to attack him.

Trivia

 * Ponta was salvaged from an unused concept of a bear-like pet tanuki named . Pochi, together with a character called, was originally planned to appear instead of Haku and Zabuza Momochi. Instead of Zabuza's Decapitating Carving Knife, Kintarō wielded a giant axe that was also salvaged for Ponta's partner, Sabu.
 * Ponta is written as ポン太. This name is a stereotypical name to give to pet tanuki, a bit like Fido is for a dog or Mittens for a cat. It is also the name Saburō Kitajima used when he was part of the comical duo.