From the way those 4 sound nin talked, I get the impression that they're only chuunin. Otherwise why would it be so risky to take on 2 jounin? Then again, if they're Orochimaru's elite guard, that doesn't speak well for the Sound village's ninjas.
I think the only reason they are his elite guard is because there ability to make those sheilds. There not entirely useless, and the Village of Sound I think is relively new, they wouldn't have alot of jounin potential just yet. The one thing I am curiuse is when Genma(I think ... the guy with the toothpick lol) says "Wait, Iwashi. Their techniques are not shinobi techniques. ..." this really caught my eye because I don't think he is refering to there curse seals (since I think there common place at high level jutsus) but maybe something else and thats why Orochimaru has them for his elite guard ... or maybe they were his first recruits. I'm just speculating but when he said that I was like "whoa ... christ there powerful and must have something more dangerous up there sleaves" that ... and the ending just rocked.

I'm supposed to be doing three assignments and my mind keeps heading back to whats going to happen next on Naruto.