Ponta

is a bear-like pet tanuki, and the companion of master enka music ninja Sabu. Ponta is apparently more observant than Sabu, as he was the first to detect Kisame Hoshigaki's presence, probably due to his animal enhanced senses. He was the first to attack Kisame, but was quickly dispatched.

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, who are visually very similar to raccoons, 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.