Elite Ninja Group - Sound Four

The Sound Four (音隠れの忍四人衆, Otogakure no Shinobi Yonin Shū; Literally meaning "Hidden Sound Shinobi Four People") are one of many elite ninja group in Anime Ninja were Orochimaru's elite bodyguards. Usually they see their opponents as inferior to themselves, each member was given a cursed seal. The four were reluctantly forced to accept Kimimaro in their ranks when he single handily defeated them all, their group temporarily called the Sound Five (音隠れの忍五人衆,Otogakure no Shinobi Gonin Shū; Literally meaning "Hidden Sound Shinobi Five People") until Kimimaro's illness kept him from participating normally as the Sound Four supported Orochimaru during the Konoha Crush.

Originally, they were Orochimaru's captured experiment subjects, and after being pitted against other prisoners in a death brawl and surviving via desire to live, they were granted the positions of Orochimaru's bodyguards.

The strongest among them was Kimimaro, who was one of Orochimaru's most prized subordinate, possessing the rare kekkei genkai Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya Clan and a candidate to be one a host body for their master. After a young Kimimaro befriended Jūgo and brought him to Orochimaru, theSannin learned of senjutsu and master it at Ryūchi Cave. Unable to use Sage Mode properly, Orochimaru instead devised the cursed seals by combining his senjutsu chakra into the mutative enzymes he isolated from Jūgo's blood. After testing his juinjutsu on several subjects, Orochimaru placed the finalised versions on the Sound Four to increased their strength.

Sometime later, Kimimaro was branded with one of Orochimaru's strongest cursed seals, the Cursed Seal of Earth, and then fought the Sound Four to test his new powers. After defeating the Sound Four with ease and leaving a rather fearful and negative impression on them, Kimimaro become the group's leader before stepping down due to his terminal illness.

Despite being young, all four of them are strong enough to become Orochimaru's bodyguards, and were all talented with barrier and sealing techniques, as well being knowledgeable of Juinjutsu and Orochimaru's curses seals. The group also excelled at Cooperation Ninjutsu and can preformed many high-level, advanced techniques when working together. Shortly after their introduction during theKonoha Crush, they used Four Violet Flames Formation to create a box-like barrier, that causes anything that touches it to burst into flames. When the group later fetched Sasuke, they used theFour Black Fogs Formation and Dark Sealing Method to protect Sasuke from harm. As the group later rested, they set up a Barrier Method Formation as well as several traps around a large part of the forest.

Each member of the Sound Four also had a cardinal direction associated with them; this was probably a reference to their positions when performing techniques as a group: Jirōbō of the South, Kidōmaruof the East, Sakon and Ukon of the West, and Tayuya of the North.

As with most of his powerful followers, Orochimaru branded them with different cursed seals, which greatly enhanced their individual abilities.

• Jirōbō possessed brute strength and powerful Earth Release techniques, particularly his Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness, can slow and weaken enemies by stealing their chakra.
• With his unique spider-like abilities, Kidōmaru was talented in long-range attacks, surveillance and detection.
• With their kekkei genkai, Sakon and Ukon were skilled at close-range and combination attacks.
• Tayuya was capable of multi-directional support through genjutsu or by controlling her Doki.