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I'd say Kidomaru genuinely had the most potential in the group
Apparently everyone in the sound 4 is 14 years old. As a kid I always assumed they were in their twenties
Woah I did not know that. And I've been a Naruto fan for 7 years lmao that's crazy. Is it in a databook or something?
Yeah, databooks have characters' ages.
The other sound ninjas, Dosu, Zaku and Kin, were also 13/14. When I was a child I always thought they were adults in their 30s
The sound ninja actually makes more sense to me, I think I assumed they were the same/similar ages to the other genin since they were in the chunin exams and all. But the sound 4? I mean c'mon, Jirobo did not look 14 🤣
Balding at 14 is rough 💀
Bro is built like a linebacker at 14😵
The sound relied on team work, and worked really efficiently and lost to individual fights. It would’ve been interesting to see all four sound fighting together against shikamarus team
I know their mission was to get Sasuke out and that's what he was prioritising but if they'd just stood their ground and fought the retrieval team all at once they would have demolished them and not have to worry about dropping off one by one.
Had to do the usual shonen 1v1s
And we loved every damn second of it
nah if they fought them together then one of the kids could get past them-they did not know how many were there or if there were any reinforcements coming-or if there were others teams moving independently -their job was to get Sasuke to Orochimaru as soon as possible, because Oro was dying and needed a new vessel.
Sasuke really owes team shikamaru a LOT because them stalling the sound 4 and sasuke is exactly why oro had to pick a different vessel for the time being and sasuke got to live 3 more years
Eh maybe not. Don't forget they were exhausted from fighting the 2 special Jonin on their way before then. So they also probably recovered to some extent while being chased.
Naruto has too many 1:1 fights.
I think the many vs 1 or many vs many fights were the most interesting in the Naruto universe.
Choji won his fight through raw strength, neji won through intelligence, kiba couldn't win a 1 v 1, shikamru couldn't win 1 v 1 so half half
Tbf Kiba was really a 1 vs 2
Tbf He had akamaru
OK that's fair
akamaru isnt as strong as the other genins tho- and the guy he was facing was arguable THE strongest in the Sound 4
I meant the sound 4 relied on it. They were all trained together and that’s why they worked well to capture Sasuke and during konoha crush
Neji also hard countered his matchup. Anybody else would have been smashed.
Choji won because he took drugs which reduced his lifespan. Not because of raw strength.
Jirobo and Kidomaru did lose individual fights. Sakon and Tayuya were pretty much sucker killed by the Sand Brothers when they were about to win
I meant the sound as a team. Literally the sound 4. They worked together in every other mission we saw
They couldn't beat one of them as a team! All 4 together would DESTROY them!
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15d
One of those special jonin was Genma, who fought toe to toe against Baki, one of the most powerful jonin in the Sand.
And exhausted is too vague. It’s not like Genma and Raido were dripping sweat, panting heavily, and incapable of even walking straight. They were confident enough to go into an outnumbered fight against Orochimaru’s henchmen who were able to give their own Anbu the slip.
And it wasn’t a draw. Genma and Raido were defeated. They were in worse condition and would’ve probably died if Shizune wasn’t there.
Exhausted is not vague. They specifically say out of chakra and exhausted from their long mission. And the sound 4 still HAD to go stage 2 , kidomaru says if they didn’t, that they would have died to two out of chakra and exhausted special jonin.
Although they were exhausted, the Sound Four were still considered a threat that required a group of Jonin to be sent. They even said there was no way a group of Genins could defeat them.
So they are barely low chunin level. Still not that strong in the grand scheme of things. Even Iruka is chunin level.
By the way, special jonins are inferior to regular jonins- they are basically chunins who got promoted because they have jonin level skill in one particular area. The Sound 4 beat two exhausted special jonins.
They were meant to be strong enough to be near impossible for our genins to beat but not strong that its impossible to beat them.
Choji won because he took drugs,Shikamaru and Kiba lost and got saved by Temari and Kankuro, Neji is the only one who beat a sound 4 on his own without any external help.
I’m saying there are levels of exhaustion. That’s what makes it vague.
Sasuke out of the Forest of Death was disheveled, out of chakra, and exhausted. Sasuke after Deidara fight was beaten to hell, huffing and puffing, and also out of chakra. Sound Four after defeating Genma and Raido were disheveled, breathing heavy, and exhausted.
Genma and Raido looked nothing like them. Hell, Naruto in the Kakuzu fight had been training for days and was noticeably ragged, but he was still capable of fighting at his usual capabilities. He was still able to create clones and use Rasenshuriken. Genma and Raido were visibly in much better shape.
Sasuke in the B fight was still recovering from full exhaustion post-Itachi fight, but he was still mostly able to perform his usual fighting capabilities.
“Out of chakra” doesn’t always mean literally incapable of doing any jutsu or speed amps. Technically being out of chakra means you die. Just as there are levels of “exhaustion” there are also levels of “out of chakra.”
Fans going against basic narrative intent is hilarious. The entire point of that offscreen fight is to establish the sound 4 as a threat that should be too much for the genin to handle. Any attempt to undermine this or put an asterisk on there beyond the fact it was 4v2 doesnt understand the entire point of the fight from a storytelling perspective
Yeah, I think people are too quick to downplay Genma and Raido just because of their rank as Special Jonin, and way too quick to assume things just because they were tired.
Genma fighting Baki and not getting killed quickly like Hayate (who is also a Special Jonin) puts Genma at above his own rank. He’s clearly far more capable based on feats.
Purely assuming strength/skill based on rank alone is an incomplete assessment. Gotta look at their feats too.
Plus he even says that Sasuke is already chunin level despite not getting the promotion based on his performance against Gaara. This same Sasuke gets handled by Sakon, putting Sakon at above a chunin level opponent.
And someone else mentioned this, but Genma’s advice to Tsunade is to send a team of JONIN to deal with the Sound Four. Only reason Tsunade didn’t is because she was thinking long term and needed to prioritize Konoha over Sasuke.
Genma fought the Sound Four, so he knows better what is needed to deal with them, and he clearly puts them at jonin level threat.
It is impossible to tell if Genma and Baki even crossed blows once before Kakashi and Guy joined him, which was almost immediately. The fight was a 3v2.
There was absolutely no "toe-to-toe."
Genma and Baki were fighting alone. Kakashi and Guy along with the other Leaf jonin were fighting the army of Sand jonin and Sound ninja. By the time we cut back to Kakashi and Guy, an hour had past, and they had just finished clearing out most of the enemy.
Then they head down to Genma and Baki’s fight. Kabuto was only just watching too. No evidence anyone interfered with Genma and Baki’s battle.
The Jonin also had low Chakra.
Each of the Sound 4 had unique abilities as well as a curse mark power amplifier.
Tayuya and Kidōmaru especially had impressive skill sets that set them apart from other ninja we had seen. Sakon and Ukon’s ability was insanely disturbing, one I felt fit Orochimaru’s henchmen perfectly.
I’d say they were firmly Chunin level Shinobi. Ones I wish would have survived and been Sasuke’s new team instead of Taka. Even if I do actually like Suigetsu and Jugo.
Chunin level.
Not as bad as people seem to rate them apparently, except for the first guy, all of them were close to killing their match, the last two even were about to win except that the sand ninja who are indirectly Gaara's bodyguards rushed to help
In war arc filler they got smashed by chuunin kiba, choji, shikamaru, and jonin neji
Probably chunin level and special jonin/low jonin level with curse mark. Kimimaro is probably high jonin or kage level.
Kimimaro is no where near Kage level. His illness saw to that and even if he was healthy he loses to Part 1 Gai,Kakashi,Asuma, etc.
Kimimaro, when he was literally so sick that he was moving only through sheer willpower, almost killed Gaara, with the latter only surviving through sheer luck. When he was healthy, he defeated all the Sound 4 at once (not an incredible feat, but that should at least put him at high jonin considering the sound 4 were able to handle two skilled tokubetsu jonin), and Orochimaru said his presence would have allowed him to easily kill Hiruzen. He also helped kill Rasa. And as an Edo Tensei (weaker than when alive), he fought evenly against KCM1 Naruto and was one of the only reanimations who was never sealed.
Orochimaru also wanted his body over the Sharingan
True, although one could argue that speaks more to the strength of his kekkei genkai than his actual strength as a shinobi.
No, Kimimaro not being sick would be kage level at bare minimum.. he was fighting against KCM Naruto, and Naruto could not beat him, the fight only ended when the the reanimation jutsu was un done, orochimaru and Kabuto hyped him up as a monster and he was going to be orchimarus vessel, if he didn’t get sick.
They needed second stage curse Mark to fight against low chinin opponents.
Kakashi alone could wipe all 4 in ten seconds. But they likely would have been very strong if they'd kept living
As a group their mid jonin lvl but by themselfs probably around mid to high chunin
He made some of his best character designs and best fights in the series period with them. With Curse Stage 2 they’re probably chunin at best tho
Weaker than leaf and sand chunin
Yes that seems correct rating
Not that much, they where Kids.
all 4 fight against 2 tokubestu jonin, all of them have to use stage 2 of the cursed mark. They win, but, they assume was a very hard fight.
Probably around the strength of the Sound 4, but I can’t be too sure
They were soundingly strong
Very nice , sound village
I'd say jonin level in terms of skills
High Chunin level. They aren’t jonin level cause all 4 jumped two special jonin who were tired from a mission and still barely won and got tired
There’s no way people are actually glazing them. They’re at most chunin level. They lost to genins. That’s about it. The fight just looked like it was a higher level than it actually was because it was pre shippuden.
Probably high Chunin level tbh, they basically needed to set a trap in Shippuden to deal with Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Neji the 2nd time around, and before that they honestly got bopped
They were shown pretty clearly to be fairly high chūnin level, individually.
Together as a group? Low Jonin level. As individuals? Chunin level.
Well, they got beat up by bunch of kids, so, not very strong.
They got their asses kicked by a bunch of genin so they cant be all that strong
Kidomaru was strong. He fought using brains while the rest were solely relying on the power of curse mark
weaker than everyone asusmes
Chunin level
Strong enough to be beaten by genin and a chuunin
Orochimaru really deserves all the genius credit he gets for founding an entire village with its own unique jutsu just for fun and research.
More or less comparable to Chunin Exams Gaara
Chuunin exams Gaara is probably the most powercrept character in the series lol.
They’re definitely Jonin level as early teens(they also defeat leaf village Jonin who were close to the hokage) however there’s room for improvement in their skills if they were allowed to live same for other ninjas like Haku who died before their prime. Originally they lost to genin because all of them were overconfident in their skills and toyed around with their opponents instead of outright just killing them and getting it over with(plot kept the Sasuke retrieval squad alive let’s face it) They wasted much of their chakra on their first opponents and then the sand trio came and mopped up the rest AFTER they were weakened. Lowballing them doesn’t make sense when you consider the facts that they’re higher than chunin across the board. Jirobo had the ability to suck chakra through contact and he could do so from multiple opponents at once by combining that ability with his earth style. In base he was capable of lifting giant domes of earth and throwing it like nothing. Pretty sure he could’ve handled mountain sized chouji in v1 state but we see him immediately push himself to v2 state upon impact and he was more than enough to stall and take out the entirety of the retrieval squad if they hadn’t split up fyi (in base none the less) He was beating the shit outta chouji but lost to the power of friendship and a secret chakra pill power up. If he hadn’t bothered monologuing and playing around he could’ve just killed chouji and moved on. Same downfall of Kidomaru who was hammering neji and countering everything perfectly-the literal strongest of the retrieval squad. Figured out the secrets of the byakugan and had the match in the bag. Got overconfident and played it far too safe when he had complete counter measures against juken at close range but lost to Neji using juken from far away. Tayuya got a bad counter in Temari and same for Sakon/Ukon with Kankuro . But Kidomarus skills was capable of overwhelming most of the characters who would be in the same strength league of Jonin with his 1. Superb armor against physical attacks/jutsu. 2. Ability to outnumber and overwhelm with spider summons and multi hit tactics 3. High battle iq. 4. Advantage of being able to fight close range and long range making him a well rounded and deadly opponent. Tayuya and Sakon/Ukon were definitely less versatile but they were only really directly countered by very specific circumstances. Tayuya is a glass canon. She can’t physically fight and relies on a flute so she’s got a glaring weak point but once she sets up the field with her doki support or gives herself the time to cast genjutsu she’s veryyy problematic to deal with to those who can’t blitz her or overcome her sound based attacks by deflection. Sakon/Ukon would demolish many chunin and Jonin with taijutsu alone. Not to mention the only real counters to one of the twin’s hax was facing either an opponent who wasn’t a living being or someone who was crazy enough to attack themselves and cause mutual destruction. Being that they’re close range fighters though another weak point would be long range characters but they have the defense of rashomon-one of Orochimarus top jutsu for defense which covers long range combatants and close range. The Sound 4 were high Jonin with all their wide range of abilities and strength. Losing to characters statistically weaker than them including the sand siblings aside from Gaara in part one does not negate their shown feats when plot can literally defeat anyone. And in Part 2 they would’ve gotten their revenge on Shikamaru and the others who got stronger but were still weaker if Naruto hadn’t come along and saved them. The fact that Kabuto also brought them back as edo tensei and used their abilities in his sage mode showed that they were also strong enough to be useful even after death.
Given they are meant to be Orochimaru's bodyguards, way weaker than they should be. Guys went to an extreme diff win against two fatigued Special Jonin like that is kinda not a good look.
Got their asses kicked by genins. They are weak.
Choji needed to take a suicide pill that made him a hundred times stronger, Neji was a hair away from dying much earlier than he would have ended up (and keep in mind he is the strongest on the team), and Kiba and Shikamaru outright lost their fights and needed to be saved by a vastly stronger Kankuro and Temari, who displayed techniques and feats that considerably outscale what they were doing in the chunin exams.
Sakon/Ukon also dogwalked Post CE Sasuke, who was definitely chunin level, if not stronger.
Still got their asses kicked.
They were "genins", but they were already above genin level in the fight. Choji ate a 8th gate pill, Neji was obviously chunin level already and got smashed, Kiba techniques were chunin level, Naruto was ridiculously overpowered for a genin (most tokubetsu jonin wouldnt have beat shukaku Gaara). Shikamaru was the only official chunin but thats because of his intelligence (that was still below kidomaro to be fair) and leadership.
I mean they lost to Genin so take that as you will.
Maybe low Chūnin
Kaguya lost to 2 genin, 2 chunin and a jonin Who they loose does not explain there power level.
Dependent on who we talk about i will say very high chunin low jonin
Except sound 4 lose to actual genin and not god level Naruto and Sasuke
Except Kiba and Neji wasn't chunins only because they lost to MC (who also wasn't granted a rank chunin because of stupid bs) and Shikamaru was already chunin. And all of them would definitely wipe a lot of actual chunins (and even jonins) of leaf.
Trash
If kiba can take one of them down then that tells you all
Kiba didn't win against Sakon & Ukon. He retreated and, once they found him again, Kankuro showed up to finish the fight.
Above average Jounin level With sole disturbing abilities, I'd say they would easily beat an average no name jounins, like you can't convince me kurenai or Sasuke's mother would beat them in a fight
Now that I think about it sound 4 as a unit had to go all out against exhausted special jounin. I'm starting to think they weren't jounin level as many of us thought back in the day. Not gonna lie though they had some strategic fights like kidomaru and Neji. That wasn't two genin or chunins fighting
Individually chunin lvl. Combined special jonin lvl, at best low jonin lvl if u highball them.
Sound 4? Higher chuunin cuz of their sage powers
Sound 5? Kimmimaro is a mid to high jonin and whooped all 4 easily
2 leaf jonin that were running on fumes almost beat all 4 at full power working together lol. Anyone that can fight Raido and Genma when they’re tired can beat all 4 of them (which basically any jonin can accomplish)
About as strong as Ino shik cho is now. The next gen
Most people will say they're sub-jonin, because they struggled to defeat 2 jonins. IMO, with their power-ups, they have gotta be stronger than a lot of jonin who have no power-ups. Although, they did ultimately lose to genin, but that's tricky since they fought Sasuke and then fought jonin, and then beat a genin, and then finally lost to a second genin. Plus, those genin were main characters, and main characters are the equivalent of gods.
they struggled to beat 2 special jonins,even with their cursed mark forms. So they are barely low chunin level. Still not that strong in the grand scheme of things. Even Iruka is chunin level.
By the way, special jonins are inferior to regular jonins- they are basically chunins who got promoted because they have jonin level skill in one particular area. The Sound 4 TOGETHER with all their powerups barely beat two exhausted special jonins.
I mean there trash and nothing more
They were genin level apparently because each one of them lost their respective 1v1
I mean 3 of those fights got interrupted and turned into 2v1
Oh no, 2 genin, I'm shaking in my boots.
Wait, what are you... aaaarrrggghhhh
The genin of their generation was cracked. Rank means nothing. The sand siblings definitely were chunin level or even Jonin.
Weaker than they should be
They were four kids who were severely psychologically damaged and reliant on cursed seals to access any real power.
They were great villains but weak in the grand scheme of things.