Yeah, they said that 2 jounin level ninjas is a bit heavy load and they activated the cursed seal lvl 2 and later on they said that if they wouldn't have activated the cursed seal they might have been defeated. I don't think they can activate cursed seal lvl 1 once you've advanced to lvl 2. As you know in RPGs once you get enough xp and you reach next level you can't go back to the previous lvl...

They are probably just as powerful as chuunins would be just like Naruto, Chouji and the rest of the gang. (though they aren't chuunins but anyway) Without the cursed seal they would've no change against Naruto&co.

Vagabond: Even when you said that it's a coffin i don't believe it. In what country do you bury ppl in barrels? I think that barrel isn't a coffin (u could say so but...) but a container to keep Sasuke alive. As you might remember they say that their barrier/seal spells will reduce the side-effects from death to temporary coma. U don't but coma patient in coffin, do you?