Naruto: Shippuuden Episode 1-2

[Narasho]

False. The Sound Four were Chuunin Level. Kimimaro probably was Jounin level though

I never said anything for or against them being Jounin. I said unless they were. My entire statement assumed they were not.

ANBU's aren't useless. They are simply ignored by Kishimoto. Its like saying every other nameless genin/chuunin/jounin/tokubetsu jounin are useless because they do not appear

Well, I suppose it is all hypothetical. How do we know if they are useful or not if the author ignores them?

It just seems logical to me that if he ignores them then they must not be that important. Maybe they are still useful, as behind-the-scenes sort of ninjas.

think we are falling in to the trap of DBZ power levels here... that the person with the highest power level will win the battle. If someone is complacent or outnumbered they could still lose, despite individually being of higher quality than their opponents.

I couldn't agree more. Winning a high level ninja battle requires more than just physical power, or even jutsu power. Strategy and decisiveness are also huge factors.

The sound 4 were jounin level in their curse seal lvl2 state, they managed to beat genma and raidou, 2 what can be considered as elite jounin.

I don't agree with your assesment of Genma and Raidou's skills. If they were elite Jounin, the battle against the sound-nin would have gone differently. I would put Kakashi and Gai in the "elite-jounin" category, and also Asuma. We haven't really seen very many other Jounin yet, so I may be way off on my placement of their skills.