Deidara

"Art is an explosion!"

- Deidara "Tobi...YOU'RE DEAD!!!!!!!!!"

- Deidara irritated after Tobi mocks his art as a rip-off

Deidara was a villain in Naruto. He was a member of the Akatsuki.

He served as one of the two main antagonist in the Kazekage Rescue arc, one of the two tertiary antagonist in the Three-Tails' Appearance arc and the main antagonist in the Itachi Pursuit Mission arc.

Background
Deidara was a ninja from Iwagakure and who was both a pupil of the Third Tsuchikage Onoki and a member of the village's Explosion Corps. Though praised highly for his clay sculptures, Deidara's desire to reach even greater heights in his art resulted with him stealing forbidden jutsu that enables him to infuse chakra into an item. Using clay explosives created by that method to take out his pursuers, and Iwagakure, Deidara found the art he had desired: the Art of a Single Moment. Remembering the first moment whenever he detonated his Explosive Clay since then, Deidara became a rogue ninja and offered his services as a bomber to insurgents in various countries.

Eventually, Deidara was visited by the Akatsuki who wanted his services as they needed a replacement member after Orochimaru defected. Deidara refused at first until he accepts a challenge from Itachi Uchiha on the condition that the Akatsuki let him be if he won. However, Deidara was easily defeated by Itachi's Sharingan and joined the Akatsuki as part of the deal. His ego crushed since then, Deidara carried a murderous loathing for Itachi and the Sharingan for the rest of his life. Partner to Sasori, who followed a polar opposite view on art, Deidara eventually came to enjoy being in Akatsuki despite his reluctance to join the organization, since he gained an opportunity to test his art against strong opponents.

Plot
Accompanied by Sasori, Deidara was to capture the One-Tailed Jinchuriki Gaara. Deidara succeeded, but lost his arm in the process. By the time he and the other Akatsuki members sealed Shukaku into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Deidara and Sasori waited for Team Kakashi and Chiyo to see their reactions to find them with Gaara's dead body, as Itachi had said that Naruto would be the first to react. Luring Naruto away with Kakashi in pursuit, Deidara ended up losing his other arm and faked his death with a clay clone. After his arms was re-attached by Kakuzu, Deidara was partnered to Tobi whose childish behavior annoyed him to no end as he helped the new member capture Isobu the Three Tails. When Deidara learned that Sasuke Uchiha defeated Orochimaru, Deidara tracked down Sasuke and fought him. Deidara and Sasuke clashed in a equal battle, Deidara managing to blow off one of Sasuke's wings and nearly kill him more than once, as Sasuke managed to counter his explosives. Both combatants collapsed, and Deidara turned himself into a sucide bomb to take Sasuke out with him. However, Sasuke survived using a giant summon as a shield.

Deidara was later reanimated by Kabuto Yakushi, aiding him in his attack on s Tonika Village and later going after Naruto and Killer B before Deidara ends up fighting his former mentor and his bodyguards. He was later paired up with Sasori on the Surprise Attack and Diversion Platoon as the Fourth Great Ninja War commences as he can Sasori combine their talents to carry living puppet bombs out of Allied ninja they captured and even some on their own. Eventually, Deidara is captured and taken into the custody of the Fifth Division. While held captive, Deidara is livid to learn of Sasuke's survival before managing to escape thanks to the White Zetsu Army infiltrating the Fifth Division. With the entire Fifth Division in pursuit, with only a sword that he uses as makeshift ground rod, Deidara is forced to use guerilla tactics to evade them while gathering clay. Eventually, Deidara is recaptured within Black Ant after falling prey to Kurotsuchi posing as Sasuke to lure him into a trap. Still demanding that they release him before he exploded, he told Kankurō that in art there was no such things as duds before being taken by surprise by the release of Reanimation Jutsu, Deidara returns to the afterlife.

Appearance
Deidara is a 19-year-old kid. He has long blonde hair, with some of it covering one of his eye, because he has an eye scope on his left eye to see long distances. But the most notable things about Deidara is that he has a mouth on each of his palms and one giant one on his chest. Like all members of the Akatsuki, Deidara wears a black robe with red cloud markings on the robe. He also carries two pouches on each side that are filled with clay.

Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals
Deidara appeared in the chibi spin-off Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals alongside with Tobi as his partner (possibly a reference to the original series since the duo became a lot more popular).

He first appeared in episode 30 alongside with Tobi planning to infiltrate Konoha in the first half of the episode. While they were about to get near the target, he ends up getting caught by Team Guy (who were posing as cops) for overspeeding. Lee asked him where is his license (a ninja parody of driver's license) which Tobi manages to distract them while juggling kunai while balancing on a ball. Deidara was given a sobriety test in which he failed for being "drunk with his talent", in which he kicks Tobi for siding with Team Guy. He and Tobi were later given a "break test" in which they will tell a story. In Tobi's story, Deidara is known as Mr. Daraday. After Tobi's story, Deidara then tells the story of 2 racecar drivers named Dean & Toby. Tired of this foolishness, Deidara pulled a clay bomb in his pouch only to be interrupted by Shizune who mistook him & Tobi as actors for Tsunade's safety show. When he was about to bomb the audience, Tsunade punches him & Tobi out of the village claiming that is what will happen if they don't follow the ninja speed limit. Later in the second half of the episode, Deidara & Tobi returned, planning to bomb Konoha using a giant clay pumpkin during the Fall Festival. Team Guy was put in charge of putting the festival on & didn't know what to do. Deidara decided to help them create a Halloween-themed festival, thus making Lee call him Mr. Artist creating a bond with them. Later, Tobi arrived with the clay bomb. Due to developing bonds with Team Guy, he created a giant clay bird and takes off with Tobi & the clay bomb away from Konoha thus exploding in the sky. They are later shown with full body cast, with Deidara believing Konoha played his emotions.

He reappered again in episode 38 alongside with Sasori (who is possibly his new partner as opposed to the original series), arguing about art. Upon seeing Lee & Tenten (who was hiding under Lee's Akatsuki cloak), he easily recognises them as the people who were responsible for his failure in infiltrating Konoha & even bribed Tobi to prevent anybody from knowing what happened in the previous episode as seen in a flashback. He lied to Lee by saying that Akatsuki is nothing but a circus group who have a morbid fear of spies. He tried to help them escape to prevent any of his fellow teammates from finding out about the previous episode only to be spotted by Sasori who mistook Lee as a newbie. Sasori tried to make Lee agree about his beliefs on art to oppose Deidara but made the two argue about their art. Deidara tried to help Lee & Tenten escape only to end up getting spotted by other Akatsuki members who also mistook Lee as a newbie. Pain decided to test Lee's abilities by fighting him, Deidara volunteered to fight him but was planning to help him escape using his clay bomb only to be interrupted by a disguised Guy & Neji (who was hiding under Guy's Akatsuki cloak) who is also mistaken as newbie who wishes to fight him. Pain decided to test both of them wherein they use a same-styled fighting technique. While fighting, Deidara secretly helps them by throwing one of his clay beetles to help them escape but unfortunately, he got hit by Lee & Guy's "fight" thus ending throwing the clay beetle right at Sasori's face thus starting a fight in Akatsuki, which ends up destroying the hideout. After Tobi & Zetsu arrived, Tobi admits the truth to Akatsuki were they end up beating Deidara for not telling Lee is a spy.

Trivia

 * Deidara became a lot more popular when Tobi becames his partner especially with their funny moments thus inspiring many Akatsuki-based fanfiction and some Internet memes. When Tobi become the serious Madara Uchiha, some fans blamed his death for turning Tobi serious, while others blamed Sasuke for killing him although Tobi just created this fake goofy personality of his to cover his true identity.
 * In Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, Deidara is portrayed as a Friend of Hero.
 * In many fanfictions about Deidara, many of these fanfics tend to joke him as a girl due to his hairstyle and appearance despite being a man.
 * Also, during the Kazekage Rescue Arc, Gaara calls him a girl by accident during their fight, thus making this a recurring joke on Deidara.