Akamaru

is Kiba Inuzuka's, along with his best friend and companion.

Background
At some point, while Kiba was still in the academy, his mother, Tsume Inuzuka, entrusted him with Akamaru. Although Akamaru almost immediately urinated on Kiba's face, much to Tsume and Hana Inuzuka's amusement, the two became close regardless.

Appearance
Akamaru is a small puppy with white fur that somewhat hangs down from his body. Akamaru has closed eyes and a dark brown nose. He also has dark brown patches on his ears and has a dark brown outline around his mouth. Whenever Akamaru ingests soldier pills his fur turns red, which is why he was named Akamaru (赤丸) "Aka" meaning "red", he also becomes more feral.

In Part I, Kiba carried Akamaru around on top of his head or inside his jacket. In Part II, Akamaru has grown large enough for Kiba to ride on his back, a difference Kiba failed to notice due to the amount of time they spend together, his general appearance has remained the same however.

Abilities
Akamaru's heightened senses, such as smell and hearing, along with Kiba's ability to communicate with him, make him a powerful ally for gathering and sharing information; he can also sense chakra with his nose, so he can judge an enemy's strength and warn Kiba if they are particularly powerful. In combat, Akamaru typically takes Kiba's form (albeit having a much more feral appearance) upon Kiba's use of Beast Human Clone, or combining with Kiba into a single entity in more desperate situations. Because Akamaru lacks his own chakra reserves, Kiba performs many of the jutsu that Akamaru takes part in, although Akamaru is able to contribute when it comes to physical attacks. Akamaru can also use Dynamic Marking by urinating on a target with great accuracy, allowing either Kiba or Akamaru to easily track the target by scent, particularly when fused together. Akamaru has not been known to talk like the other nin-dogs, but did speak briefly at the end of a special new years episode in the anime. He has also been shown to be adept at setting traps such as exploding tags on his own.

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Trivia

 * The 'Aka' in Akamaru's name means the color 'red', and 'maru' meaning 'perfection' or 'full circle' is a common suffix for Japanese male names. The reason for his name was explained by Kiba when Akamaru's fur turned red after eating a Military Rations Pill.
 * Akamaru's breed is similar to a Great Pyrenees.
 * Akamaru is not to be confused with Kakashi Hatake's nin-dogs. Akamaru is an Inuzuka dog and is not a summon.
 * In an omake segment that aired in Japan for New Year's, Kiba attempted to get Akamaru to talk, with little success. There are no indications that Akamaru even has the potential to speak, other than the fact that other ninken can.
 * Interestingly, Naruto was first published in a segment of Weekly Shonen Jump known as "Akamaru Jump".
 * Akamaru and Naruto have the same seiyū, Junko Takeuchi. However, they have separate English voice actors.
 * According to the Naruto databook:
 * Akamaru wishes to fight Kuromaru.
 * Akamaru's favorite food is the special dog food Kiba makes.
 * Akamaru and Kiba share the same birthday.