Gold and Silver Brothers

The, also known as the , were two infamous shinobi from Kumogakure.

Background
Years ago, before the First Shinobi World War, the Gold and Silver Brothers made names for themselves in their attempt to capture the Nine-Tailed Fox for their village. They were instead swallowed whole by the beast. The brothers survived inside Kurama for two weeks by eating the beast's flesh; this would eventually lead to the fox regurgitating them. This left them with unusually large chakra-reserves and abilities similar to those of a jinchūriki. With their new-found powers, the brothers assaulted the Second Raikage, during his peace pact with the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, to stage a coup d'etat. Managing to bring the Second Hokage to the verge of death, the brothers are declared disgraces for their treacherous actions and deceptive natures. Despite this, they are still highly respected in Kumo for their strength and skill. At some point in their lifetime, they were alive during the reign of the Third Raikage. The brothers' fate after the ambush was never revealed, but they eventually died, taking with them four of the five treasures.

Appearance
The brothers share similar appearances to one another. They are both muscular in physique with Kinkaku being the larger of the two. Their hair is styled like headdresses — the colour of which reflect their names (gold and silver respectively). They also have what appeared to be horns and wore similar attires to one another. Each also had the first kanji of their name tattooed to their shoulder, and whisker-like marks on their faces. As a result of their ability to survive ingesting a tailed beast's flesh, the Fourth Raikage believed the two to be related to the Sage of Six Paths This assumption is furthered by them using the Treasured Tools of the Sage of the Six Paths in battle, and fully confirmed by the fourth databook.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
During the Fourth Shinobi War, Kabuto Yakushi reanimates the Gold and Silver brothers, and their presence alone almost provoked A into completely disregarding his duties as leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces in order to personally confront the brothers on the battlefield as he informs the others how dangerous the two are. Soon after, the brothers confront Darui of the First Division along with Samui and Atsui before the brothers sealed them away in the Benihisago despite Darui's attempt to save the former by severing Kinkaku and him and Ginkaku with his Storm Release: Laser Circus attack. Darui manages to counter the brothers' method of entrapment and uses the Shichiseiken to trap Ginkaku in the Benihisago. This act infuriates Kinkaku as he transforms into his six-tailed, Version 2 form.

With Team 10 summoned to his side with the Kohaku no Jōhei as Ino uses her Mind Body Switch Technique to take possession of Kinkaku's body to force him into activating the Kohaku no Jōhei to suck in Kinkaku along with the Kōkinjō. However, as the first day of the war comes to an end, Tobi takes the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei intending to make use of the brothers' Nine-Tails chakra. The next day, Tobi tosses the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to summon an incomplete version of "it".

Trivia

 * Both Kinkaku and Ginkaku are based on two characters from the Chinese classic "Journey to the West". In this story; the siblings are two demon king brothers, known as the and the, who live in the  on . They possess five treasured tools, called the , the , the , the  and the . Amongst these, the pot and the gourd are capable of sucking in their opponents and melting them, once they are trapped within. Ginkaku is also said to have a technique that allows him to move mountains.
 * The demon king brothers' mother and uncle also appeared in the novel. Their uncle, Hu A'qi was a fox that fought with a halberd and lived close to his nephews. Their mother was a nine-tailed fox in the disguise of an old woman who lived in the Dragon-suppressing Cave. The fact the demon king brothers' mother was a nine-tailed fox, is an allusion to how Kinkaku and Ginkaku possess Kurama's chakra after being trapped in its stomach.
 * There are slight differences between the Gold and Silver Brothers' appearance in the anime and the manga. On the cover of volume 56, the brothers have a white rectangular marking on their nose. In the anime, however, the white marking is simply an outline. The cover of volume 56 also depicts the brothers with a noticeably darker complexion while in the anime, they are fair-skinned.