Feels like he was barely there.
Summary:
- While many people remember Kiba, he was barely relevant to the plot of Naruto.
- He was too similar to Naruto in his characterization and not interesting otherwise.
- He still had one good fight in Part one.
Naruto has its fair share of memorable characters. Even those who never really matter for the plot — or only appear in one arc — can be remembered by fans fondly. Some characters are even remembered when they had practically zero impact on the plot (Tenten comes to mind).
Someone like Kiba never really had a huge fanbase. His techniques aren’t particularly impressive, and he doesn’t progress that well compared to other characters. While he was introduced along with other characters from Naruto’s academy year, he never really mattered — and for a multitude of reasons, too.
He Wouldn’t Have Impacted the Story Regardless
The power scaling in Naruto certainly didn’t help Kiba much. All his techniques are animal-based and not super flashy, and while the series was slowly progressing to the power levels where characters could freely drop meteors at will, he could never compete with them. Overall, his skillset was just not interesting or strong enough for him to matter in the first place.
He also was relegated to a team which has basically no relevance for the plot. Together with Hinata and Shino, they were a tracking team — and there wasn’t much tracking done outside of a few arcs. At least Hinata had some screen time because she was a love interest for the main character. Kiba, and especially Shino, were mostly ignored.
He’s Not Really Interesting
It also doesn’t help that Kiba was pretty one-dimensional as a character — and his role in the story overlapped with Naruto’s own role. He’s hot-headed, rash, and easily charges into the battle without thinking. Who else is like that? That’s right, Naruto. Them fighting each other in the chunin exams made perfect sense, though the conclusion of that fight was perhaps the stupidest moment in the entire series.
Kiba got his chance to shine in the Sasuke Retrieval arc — and that was his best moment for sure. His battle against Sakon and Ukon was a rare example where he demonstrated his ability to find tactics and think on the spot. In Shippuden, he barely had any plot relevance — his main non-filler appearance was when the cast tried to find Sasuke after his fight with Deidara.
Was Kiba an underused character? Perhaps. That said, not every character needs to have an impact on the plot. Kiba is one of those characters. He didn’t need to have more impact — he’s good enough in one arc where he matters, and is a decent supporting character otherwise.