On the eve of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Deidara was revived by Yakushi Kabuto through Impure World Reincarnation and began acting alongside Kabuto. Kabuto used a talisman slightly different from Orochimaru's, allowing Deidara to retain his consciousness while leaving his body partially controlled, his eyes turning black. After discovering Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B's hiding place—the island turtle of Kumogakure—Deidara attacked with explosive clay jellyfish, but was intercepted midway by the Tsuchikage and confronted him. Just as he was preparing to challenge the Tsuchikage with C4, Kabuto retreated. Deidara was sealed inside an Impure World Reincarnation coffin and promptly vanished.
During the Shinobi World War, Kabuto assigned him and Sasori to launch aerial attacks on the Shinobi Allied Forces using bombs and traps. Before setting out, however, he and Sasori got into another verbal dispute.
Deidara and Sasori encountered the ambush unit led by Kankuro and Sai. They repeatedly planted explosive clay inside the bodies of shinobi summoned through Impure World Reincarnation and used them to attack the enemy, injuring members of the ambush unit, including Sai. Deidara declared that as long as the souls of shinobi summoned by Impure World Reincarnation remained bound to the world, they could launch explosions without limit. He mocked Sai as an unworthy successor who could not even replace Sasuke, saying that Sai's ink-based ninjutsu could not be called art. Instead, this enraged Sai, who had witnessed his older brother Shin being controlled by Impure World Reincarnation. Sai then used two giants and birds summoned through Super Beast Imitating Drawing to knock Deidara and Sasori off their explosive clay owl. They fell into Kankuro's prearranged puppet, Black Ant. Deidara attempted to escape by self-detonating and destroying Black Ant, but Omoi, a member of the ambush unit, used Lightning Release to suppress the explosive