So, I had time on my hands (because the internet's been awful), and ideas for this chapter, which equals…quick update! The next chapter will take longer because I've got work to catch up on in school, a robotics competition coming up to prepare for, and no idea what exactly to write.

…Enjoy!

EDIT (1/7/18): Basic stuff, sentence fluency.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

SASUKE

The first time Nato laid eyes on Sasuke, a strange feeling sent shockwaves rippling through his mind. It was like meeting an old and indescribably close friend for the first time. Nato felt that the other boy experienced something similar, even though nothing on his face betrayed it. When Sasuke grabbed his arm, Nato felt the familiar comfort that came when he closed his eyes.

And when he looked directly into the fury held in the Uchiha's eyes, Nato knew he had found something that was once lost to him, something that had always belonged, like the jagged ends of a puzzle piece fitting into place.

Akes.

"What are you doing?"

Nato's hand would have slipped out of the pocket, but the firm grip on his wrist prevented it. He would have to talk his way out. He lifted his head to face his accuser, a slick getaway phrase poised on the tip of his tongue, but froze.

"I'm sorry," he murmured instead, thinking not of the person's pocket he had picked, but rather of an ancient memory that still haunted him. "Gomen, gomen, gomen."

Although the boy scowled, the rage in his eyes dimmed, the muttered, heart-wrenching apologies unexpected. "I asked, what do you think you are doing?" Just like his eyes, the anger in his voice was wavering.

Nato shook himself back, and the excuse he used four years ago slipped off his tongue. "Oh, ya know, I was just testing his pocket's security system. I was never gonna keep his wallet." Nato turned to his shocked almost-victim with an innocent mask carved into his face. "Good security by the way." He faced Akes–the boy–again.

The boy looked furious, but confused. So Nato took the opportunity, calling a "sorry, I've got to go", wrenched his wrist from the boy's grasp, and dashed down the street. He ignored the calls for his capture and kept moving on, ducking his head to hide the lone tear slipping down his cheek.

I'm sorry, Akes. Could you ever forgive me?

Remembering the boy's furious eyes and enraged voice, Nato doubted his wish would come true.

They didn't see each other again until the day Nato came to join Team Seven, the one genin team that year to be only two members, as not enough students passed the exam. Sasuke (that was the boy's name) did not look happy to see Nato. Not even close. If anything, he was glad to have finally caught that 'pocket security tester'. However, after some convincing, Sasuke did not turn Nato into the Uchiha Police Force.

It was during that time as a part of Team Seven that the Yaunkur boy learned just why Sasuke possessed so much rage.

When Sasuke was eight years old, his elder brother, Itachi slaughtered a good portion of the shinobi and adults in his own clan, the Uchiha. This included the clan head, their father. After that night, only a third of the Uchiha's former number remained, and most of them were civilians or young children. Sasuke was left alone. His mother, Mikoto, stilled lived, but after the death of her husband, the betrayal of her firstborn, and the loss of her two best friends, she was in no better condition than her son.

Because of this, Sasuke's life goal was to kill his older brother. In Nato's opinion, this was definitely not healthy. But since when did anyone care to ask him? However, over that short year with Team Seven, the two boys grew to become close friends and the greatest of rivals. Though they would never admit it, Nato and Sasuke acted like brothers.

So when the elder boy defected from Konoha, the pain Nato felt was much greater than a chidori through the chest, a sensation Nato was well acquainted with.

"Is that it, Teme? After all our time together and all that effort, you're just leaving?!"

The other boy was silent.

"When I was with you, ya know, I would wonder, is this what it's like to have a brother? But now I know. No brother would leave his sibling like this."

That intense rage glared at Nato as Sasuke exploded in return. "My older brother did! He murdered our father and cousins and aunts and uncles, and then he just left! He's a monster!"

There was quiet, before Nato softly inquired, almost mournfully, "then what does that make you, Sasuke?"

It took much time, strength, and determination, but Nato did drag Sasuke back home to Konoha. He didn't just do it because of his promise to Sakura, or because of a debt to be repaid. He did it because he missed Sasuke, because he wanted him back. It took almost three years and many battles, including the death of Itachi by Sasuke's hand and a final battle in the Valley of the End, but it was worth it.

Because Nato finally got Akes–no, Sasuke–back.

If one who did not know the two teens were to see them walking down the street together, they would never have guessed that the two best friends, practically brothers, were the ones to take the other's arm.

After all they had been through, Nato and Sasuke trusted each other implicitly. Once the Hidden Star was created and when the two boys were alone, one could hear Sasuke call Nato his brother, and the younger call Sasuke Tsiaob.

They trusted each other, and never hesitated to dish out a well-deserved punch.

"Hinata, may I ask you something?"

"S-sure." Sasuke was rarely one to approach Hinata alone. What could be on his mind?

The Uchiha looked down, as if he were shy or embarrassed. "What does Tsiaob mean?"

She smiled in faint relief, and put down the scarf she was knitting. "In Kae, it is a title that has many different meanings, such as r-right hand, most trusted, or most loyal."

She watched Sasuke carefully for his response, noticing the skin tightening around his eyes and a brief but intense emotion of grief and guilt flicker in them. However, this lasted only for the tiniest of seconds before the stoic Uchiha mask hid it once again.

"I see. Thank you, Hinata." She nodded and picked up her knitting again, watching the older teen leave the Hidden Star's sitting room.

When Nato accepted him back to Konoha and his family with open arms and a smiling face, Sasuke was relieved but then felt guilty for it. For all he did to Nato and Sakura and his mother and Itachi, he shouldn't have been welcomed with opened arms. He should have been cast out or at least glared at!

But he was relieved he wasn't.

After he learned just what Tsiaob meant, Sasuke felt that he didn't deserve it. He really didn't. He was the one who caused his family all that pain, and took Nato's right hand from him. He didn't deserve to be Nato's replacement hand. He could never be as good as the first, the one that brought Sasuke back home.

But if that was what Nato wanted him to be, Sasuke would be his right hand. Sasuke would be the thing he ripped away from Nato.

He would make sure the dobe didn't get himself killed.

SAKURA

Before the Forest of Death, Sakura was weak, nothing but a silly fangirl playing shinobi. She knew nothing of the pain the world possessed. She knew only what laid in the books her father brought back to her from places such as Suna or Kumo.

Sakura was a spoiled merchant's daughter who understood nothing about how the real world worked.

She was innocent, and a child.

"Where do you keep the sheep you use to for this wool? Or do you buy it nowadays?"

Nato looked at his newest customer, a pink haired girl his age. She was holding up and examining different woven fabrics in their new store, 'Yaunkur Trade'.

"We have a grazing and work area just outside of the city walls. All of the wool in these fabrics were produced by our flock, ya know."

The girl nodded thoughtfully, and then looked up to stare at him. Nato fidgeted uncomfortably under the girl's intense green-eyed gaze. During these brief moments, he noticed the intelligence in them, but also the innocence she possessed. He wouldn't have been surprised if this girl had never left Konoha before.

"What is it? Do I have powder on my face or something?"

Now it was her turn to be uncomfortable, her eyes avoiding his. But even so, her voice was strong. "Are you a Yaunkur?"

"Yup. Been one my entire life." He showed her the mark on his forearm.

"I was just wondering because you look very different from the others, you know, with the bright hair and all."

Nato self-consciously raised his hand to touch his hair, blushing a bit. "Yeah, so I've been told."

There was a long, awkward pause. "So…do you have any healing herbs?"

The boy brightened immediately. "Of course we do! Ya know, I'm even the current Head Healer, so I know all about them!"

"Really?! Please, show me!"

And so the two spent over an hour chatting about different herbs and their uses in the healing arts, and comparing traditional methods to the modern shinobi ways.

…However, the girl's comment stuck in his head, and since that day Nato began wearing a cap or piece of cloth over his hair in public.

Once Nato joined Team Seven, he and Sakura had a few friendly interactions but mostly it was her fangirling over Sasuke. She had been useless, but Sakura didn't really understand this until the second part of the chunin exams; the Forest of Death. There, she found the determination and strength to separate her crush on Sasuke from her shinobi duties, doing so by chopping off her hair.

She would become stronger, so she would no longer be staring at her boys' backs. Next time, it would be them staring at hers.

"Sakura, what happened to your hair?!"

The girl blushed, feeling the short, pink strands. "It was getting in the way, so I cut it off."

"You just cut it off?!"

"Yup." She sighed in exasperation. "It's not the end of the world, baka. Hair regrows."

"But…your beautiful hair!"

Sasuke left Sakura heartbroken but determined. She knew how she would become stronger, and Tsunade was the perfect teacher for her. By the time Nato came back from a long training trip with his new teacher, Jiraiya, Sakura's shinobi prowess had grown considerably.

Even though they had spent just under two years apart, they worked together like a well-oiled machine.

She and Nato would drag Sasuke back to Konoha, together.

And, by the time they did, Sakura and Nato's relationship was very similar to the one he possessed with Karin in the Drongur household. Sakura was the older sister, Nato the little brother. However, where Karin and Nato's friendship was based on survival, Nato and Sakura's friendship was based on just that–friendship.

They were best friends and siblings, nothing more, nothing less.