kankuro is best for fighting AIs. ninja exam, survival, ranks, he's fine there. just protect his puppet and (with gnw kankuro especially cos he's a beast) you'll deal great dmg. if you're wind, keep at least one kankuro upped at all times, like naruto/asuma/baki/oro/gaara if u got him he's just a good wind to have.

but sadly pvp ppl know destroy his puppet and he's just not effective. what's he gonna do, throw his little poison shuriken at u? shield of his puppet just ain't that great, tho gnw kankuro's is a lot better (and if ur wind it will be better than ur or naruto's clones ... still nothing compared to say akamaru as above mentioned. but u want to protect the puppet, not use it as a shield unless ur down to the wire and he's the only one left standing.)

i like to hide him and his puppet behind hinata. they work pretty well together