Deidara

**Deidara** (デイダラ) is an S-rank missing-nin from Iwagakure. During his time in the village, he was a member of the Explosion Corps. After defecting from the village, he was forced into Akatsuki and was its youngest member. There, Deidara was partnered with Sasori until the latter's death, and later with Tobi before his own death.

## Background

During his time as an Iwagakure shinobi, Deidara came to know Ōnoki, and became familiarised with his fighting style. He possessed the Explosion Release kekkei genkai which he used as a member of the Explosion Corps. Though praised highly for his clay sculptures, Deidara's desire to reach even greater heights in his art resulted with him stealing one of his village's kinjutsu that allows one to knead their chakra into substances. Using explosive clay to take out his pursuers, Deidara found the art he had desired: the *Art of a Single Moment* (一瞬の芸術, *Isshun no Geijutsu*). Remembering the first moment whenever he detonated his explosive clay, he recalls the process that allowed him to reach this art. Since then, Deidara became a missing-nin and offered his services as a bomber to insurgents in various countries.

Deidara's exploits eventually caught the attention of Akatsuki, and Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Sasori were sent to recruit him. Deidara refused at first until he accepts a challenge from Itachi on the condition that Akatsuki let him be if he won. However, Deidara was easily defeated by Itachi's Sharingan and begrudgingly joined the organisation where he was partnered with Sasori. In the anime, Sasori and Deidara were immediately tasked with eliminating Orochimaru for betraying the organisation. Upon arriving in the Land of Wind and witnessing the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation by Orochimaru, the Sannin retreated after his technique proved incomplete. After Deidara attempted to kill him by blowing up his base, Deidara and Sasori searched the ruins but were unable to confirm his death as they didn't find his corpse. At some point afterwards, Deidara returned to Iwagakure and left it in destruction after detonating a bomb within the village, as he flew away.

With his ego crushed from his defeat at the hands of Itachi's dōjutsu, Deidara carried a murderous loathing for Itachi and his Sharingan for the rest of his life. Acknowledging that Itachi was a more powerful opponent, Deidara took steps during his time with Akatsuki to ensure he could get revenge on Itachi, such as training his left eye to counter genjutsu, and devising the means to create C4.

## Personality

During his partnership with Sasori, Deidara usually showed a cool, and relaxed attitude, never losing his smirk even while fighting an intense battle or when being blamed by his partner. However, his personality seemed to change to some extent after being partnered with Tobi, as he would easily get mad at his partner’s childish and sometimes disrespectful behaviour. He also had something of a sadistic arsonist nature, rather he was not above enjoying a good fight, and he often blew up his opponents in a very brutal fashion. Deidara's most distinctive trait, however, was his love of art. He would respect any form of it, even if it disagreed with his own. Deidara also had a habit of ending his sentences with nasal-like grunts (…うん, *…un*), roughly translated as "yeah" or "hm". The latter of which is used in the VIZ version. Deidara also seemed to respect the ideals of others as he allowed Gaara to move the sand he used to protect his village into the desert before kidnapping him, even going so far as to admiringly call him noble.

Deidara referred to his explosive ninjutsu as art, usually quoting "Art is an Explosion!" (芸術は爆発だ, *Geijutsu wa Bakuhatsu da*) and seeing each bomb he made to be a significant accomplishment. He referred to his style as superflat (referring to certain types of art), and claimed pop (another art style) is dead. He would often boast about his works of art, even towards his opponents in battle. Deidara's pride as an artist makes him simply unwilling to accept that anything could defeat it, leading to his abandonment of strategy during his battle with Sasuke Uchiha, in favour of tactics that let him show off his art. He was able to recognise stronger opponents like Itachi, although he felt that the Sharingan was inartistic, and despised the fact that he had been enthralled by its genjutsu.

Deidara referred to his partner Sasori as Master Sasori (サソリの旦那, *Sasori no Danna*, *English TV:* Sasori, my man), out of respect for him as a fellow artist. He also admitted, at least outwardly, that Sasori was more powerful than he was. In spite of this, Deidara wasn't above goading his partner, and they frequently argued over the nature of true art (Deidara holding that art is what lasts within a moment while Sasori believing fine art is something that lasts for all time). This reflected their individual fighting styles (Deidara made clay sculptures that exploded; Sasori made long-lasting puppets out of humans). Deidara outwardly seemed to respect Sasori's beliefs, but couldn't resist getting a final jab in after Sasori's death.

Deidara's partnership with his second partner, Tobi, however, was very different. Tobi apparently held great respect for Deidara, and frequently called him "senpai" (先輩, *senior*). The idiotic front Tobi put up greatly irritated Deidara, who believed that all Akatsuki members should be calm, talking less and acting serious. This in turn results in Tobi unintentionally angering Deidara to attack him in a comedic fashion (e.g. blasting him with his explosive clay or strangling him with his legs). But in battle, Deidara puts his issues with Tobi aside to work well with him, telling him to get away when he was about to do a more dangerous attack. Deidara also seemed to have a minor sense of appreciation for Tobi, as shown when he apologised to his partner in his thoughts before he initiated his self-destruction technique.