This story is NOT going along with the original storyline. This is an alternate storyline.
The New Blood
Kakuzu barely escaped the battle that had taken place in the Forest of Death. He knew that things would've gone swimmingly had it not been for Hidan's recklessness. Thanks to him, Kakuzu lost another one of his hearts and almost lost his life. The only thing gained from it all was Hidan's fate. Kakuzu had no clue to exactly what happened to him and didn't care to know.
"That jinchuuriki almost had me. Luckily, you came to help me," he said as he looked onto his companions, Deidara and Tobi. He was sitting aboard one of Deidara's clay birds. "Pain-sempai told us to come and assist you since you two were having trouble with those Leaf ninja!" Tobi said as he crossed his arms. Kakuzu scoffed before wincing in pain from his injuries. "Assist? What would you have done, Tobi?" "Absolutely nothing," Deidara answered for his teammate.
Switching the subject, Deidara asked, "Now where is Hidan?" Just hearing that name earned a low growl from the battered Kakuzu. "Who cares? I know I saw that shadow-manipulating kid come out of the forest when we left, so Hidan must've lost his head again, physically and mentally." Tobi's head popped up when he heard the remark. "Physically?" he trembled as he placed both hands on his neck. "Hey, none of that, Tobi!" Deidara barked at his teammate. "Sorry, sempai," Tobi bowed his head, but went too low, lost his balance, and nearly fell off the bird.
Kakuzu couldn't help but chuckle. "I wouldn't mind being teamed up with someone like Tobi. I'd rather have a clown than an arrogant prick as a partner," Tobi cocks his head to the side. He didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. "Hmm, lucky for you, you might get just that," Deidara informed the older man. Kakuzu looked up at the mad bomber ninja. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. Tobi popped up in Deidara's face and loudly shushed him. "Deidara-sempai! I thought we were going to surprise him!" he whined. Deidara frowned and ranted back, "No! When I said 'Drop a bomb on him', I meant that I was gonna drop one of my most powerful works of art on that damned Hatake bastard! What the hell were you thinking?" The argument between the two went on as Kakuzu slowly tuned them out. "I know that Hidan was a prick, but still, he's the only one who's compatible with me. What does Pain have in mind?" he wondered.
After a few hours of flight, the trio had reached the Akatsuki base. They leapt off the clay bird and Deidara reverted it back to normal size. "Well gentleman, shall we go?" Deidara suggested. This made Kakuzu suspicious. "Deidara's behavior is strange. He's not this polite, I know that." They got to the entrance and Deidara made a hand sign. "Release!" The huge boulder disappeared, revealing the interior of the cave. The three men walked inside and the boulder materialized back into its original position. Inside, they were greeted by the sight of the holographic form of their fellow members and also a new face. This new guy was young looking. He had black, spiky hair that went down to his back and a pair of lazy eyes like Sasori. Along with everyone else, he adorned the Akatsuki trademark: the long black cloak with red clouds. "Ah, welcome back, Deidara, Tobi, and Kakuzu," Pain welcomed the men. The young boy bowed to them as well. Not one to beat around the bush, Kakuzu asked, "What's the meaning of this boy being here?" Pain chuckled and replied with, "Always the professional businessman," He, too, wanted to get down to the nitty-gritty of this meeting. "Well, I regret to inform you all that Hidan has fallen," he told the group. Kisame just chuckled at hearing that. "So Mr. Immortal finally bit off more than he could chew? It was gonna happen eventually, but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon," he said as his chuckles grew louder.
Remaining cool and calm, Itachi asked, "How could they beat him? I know that most of us are more powerful than him, but still, his immortality makes him a tough opponent to take down," "Not really," Zetsu interjected. "With no body, Hidan can't do a thing. That's what happened to him. He got careless, no surprise there, and that brat from the Nara clan blew him to bits and buried him under a ton of boulders," Hearing that, Kisame laughed even louder at the scenario. "A fitting end for the Immortal Asshole!" he commented. Pain shot a glared at the sword-wielder. "Calm yourself, Kisame. A member of us has fallen, so we should mourn him," he reminded him. "Mourn him? Can't do that for someone who can't die," Deidara remarked as he rolled his eyes. He thought back to when he last saw him.
Deidara's flashback:
"Look out for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto," he warned him. Hidan laugh at the warning before firing back an ill-mannered response. "Why? Was he too strong for your 'art', Mr. Former Amputee? Lucky for you, Kakuzu sewed your arms back on!" "Even without arms, at least he's able to fight back, Mr. Lost His Head and Became a Sniveling Crybaby," Kakuzu said, trying to level the field. "What the fuck? Kakuzu, you bastard! Don't piss me off, you old rag doll!" Hidan raged on. Kakuzu didn't pay his threats any mind. "You'd do well to listen when someone is warning you. That arrogance will come back and bite you in the ass. Or probably just bite your head off," was all he said before Pain demanded order.
"Umm, excuse me?" said a timid voice that snapped Deidara out of his daydream. The group turned to see that the new guy had something to say. "Hidan-sempai can die if he has no nutrients. That's the only way to kill a Jashinist," he said in a quiet voice. Everyone raised a brow, this was info that no one had ever known before. "So how would you know that?" Deidara asked. He took a good look to see that the boy was wearing the same necklace as Hidan! "Wait, you're in that weird cult, too?" Kakuzu inquired. The boy nods. "I'm Kengo. I'm the second Jashinist to have obtained immortality," he introduced himself. Everyone, with the exception of Pain, was surprised. Tobi broke the silence and ran up to Kengo and shook his hand like he was on steroids. "Nice to meet you! I'm Tobi!" he happily said, still shaking his hand. "Well, at least this zombie's got manners," Kisame commented. "Kisame, that 'zombie', as you like to call him, possesses the same skills to Hidan, but he's far superior to his sempai," Pain informed. Deidara's eyes widened as he said, "This kid's stronger than Hidan? I doubt it," "Kid? I'll have you know that I'm 20, bozu!" Kengo argued back. Both Kisame and Tobi burst out laughing as Deidara's jaw dropped. "20? He doesn't look it," he mumbled. "This guy's 20, so that really does make you a bozu, Deidara!" Kisame laughed even harder. Tobi started doing a little dance as he sung, "Deidara-bozu! Deidara-bozu! Deidara-bozu!" In an act of embarrassment and rage, Deidara pounced on the dancing Tobi, making Kisame laugh even harder.
All the commotion stopped once Kakuzu cleared his throat. He walked up to get a better look at Kengo. "So, you have the same abilities as Hidan, but even better? And you're not coming off as a prick," he surmised. "Where are you from?" Kengo just didn't know how to explain it, but he did the best he could. "I'm not from a village like you guys. I grew up in the wild," he said. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. His green irides seem like they could start glowing at any moment. Finally, Kakuzu released a sigh before turning around. "So you've already had Hidan's replacement ready just in case, huh, Pain?" Pain's silence was enough to confirm Kakuzu's assumption. The dark-skinned Akatsuki looked over his shoulder at his newly-assigned partner. "Once I get my strength back, I'm going to test you," he said before he started to walk away. Kengo eyes widened, he didn't like the tone of Kakuzu's voice when he said that. Konan, who had silently observed the whole scene, passed a quick glance over to Pain. She was worried about Kengo's safety, but Pain shot back a glance to signal her that he'll be alright. "Heh, I hope your fighting is as good as your manners, kid! Otherwise, Kakuzu will have you wishing that you could die if he gets his hands on you!" Kisame warned, still laughing a little from Kengo's 'bozu' comment. "Kisame that's enough!" Itachi said, unusually agitated. "Oh, don't worry. I've seen him in action. Though he has the same general techniques as Hidan, there's more to this boy than he appears!" Zetsu informed the shark man. Pain shifts his gaze through the whole group until he saw Deidara still choking out Tobi. "Deidara! Tobi! Knock it off!" he barked at them, causing the pair to stop. "We will remain here to see how well Kengo-kun fares. Understood?" Everyone nods to show that they were going along with it. "Kengo-kun, huh?" Konan finally spoke. "Seems like you like this kid, already." Pain closed his eyes as he said, "Perhaps."
Now I know some of you think that I'm adding a little OOC-ness, but it's kinda hard to do when you have to include so many characters in one chapter. I'm just trying to move the story along while also trying to retain each character's personality. (Though I think I'm pretty shaky on it. Some personalities I'm better with than others.)