I personally find Kiba a good tank and damage-soaker - my midgame team consisted of him in front of my squishier damage-dealers like Kakashi and Sakon/Ukon. Although I find the mystery a bit expensive and not worth it if Akamaru is dead, I personally like it because it was a guaranteed repulse, which I often comboed off of using Midnight Blade's Lai Giri and Sakon/Ukon's Critical Kill Formation.

GNW Kiba, like Lightning Blade said, is really good as well in that he can get a guaranteed knockdown if his pet is alive (leading to another Sakon/Ukon Critical Kill) and he seems to be a lot tankier than regular Kiba.
At the end of the day, I ended up using Kiba mainly as a tank and/or combo starter.