Mako was a crippled boy who depended on his younger brother Aki to get by in their village, which happened to be near Jagi's hideout. When Mako accidentally crossed paths with one of Jagi's men, Aki stepped up without hesitation—offering to sacrifice his own leg to protect his brother. Jagi, masquerading as Kenshiro at the time, was apparently moved by this display of devotion, but in the worst way possible. He dragged Aki away and left him chained to a massive cinder block out in the desert.
When the real Kenshiro showed up at the village with Aki's corpse in his arms, a devastated Mako couldn't think straight. He grabbed a bowgun and tried to kill Kenshiro, not knowing the truth. Kenshiro took the arrow meant for him straight to the chest—and later used that same arrow to torture Jagi to death.
The anime reworked this storyline pretty significantly. Here, Mako was sick rather than crippled and noticeably thinner than his manga version. Before taking Aki, Jagi struck a pressure point on Mako that brainwashed him into attacking Kenshiro. The only way Kenshiro could undo the technique was to let Mako shoot him; if he didn't go through with it, Mako would die. Since Aki actually survives in the anime, the brothers get reunited with their grandfather at the end.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
