Konoha Yellow Monkey: The salary is in place, and Wukage is useless!

When Deidara awoke again, he found himself in the forest of the island where he had been hiding, bound to a thick tree trunk by several vines.

The dull pain from the back of his head made Deidara's consciousness somewhat blurred. It took him a while to slowly recall what had happened before he lost consciousness.

"Is this the strength of the First Hokage? Just how strong is that Kizaru guy?" Deidara thought to himself. As a genius, he had an indomitable spirit, and his recent increase in strength further fueled his ambition to challenge his seniors.

But this battle undoubtedly brought Deidara's somewhat conflicted mind back to reality. He knew very well that the First Hokage hadn't even used his full strength to defeat him. If this battle hadn't taken place on the sea and in the sky, where he had the advantage, he probably would have been defeated even more thoroughly.

However, Deidara did not feel that taking advantage of the terrain was a breach of martial ethics. His fighting style had always been like this: using all conditions to help him gain the upper hand in battle, or even to win, was his fighting creed.

Bound by the vines, he formed a hand seal and controlled several miniature clay spiders to emerge from his waist pouch. These miniature clay spiders, about the size of normal spiders, quickly climbed to the other side of the tree trunk and then automatically detonated, blasting the vines wrapped around the trunk apart.

Having freed himself from the vines, Deidara stood up, moving his slightly numb hands and feet, and began checking if any of his belongings were missing.

After confirming that the First Hokage had simply bound himself to the island, he reached into his pouch with his right hand, took out a lump of clay, and prepared to sculpt a new riding bird for himself.

Soon, a brand new white clay bird was sculpted in Deidara's hand. As he performed hand seals, the clay bird seemed to come alive, soaring into the sky and growing larger until it landed in front of Deidara.

After remounting his mount, Deidara was about to jump onto the bird's back when a voice rang out from the forest, making his heart tighten.

"Wow, that's quite a skillful touch! But are you really just going to leave like this?"

Deidara stopped in his tracks, gritting his teeth as he anticipated the lesson Kizaru would teach him upon his arrival.

However, to his surprise, after Kizaru emerged from the woods on the right, he did not mock his defeat. Instead, he walked up to him with a smile, standing next to Asuka, and asked with some concern, "Where are you planning to go this time? There is no place for you in the first half of the Grand Line."

Deidara was well aware of his current situation, but with a plan in mind, he confidently replied, "I have a plan, and I'm ready to go to the New World. This time, I will form my own pirate crew, and then return to launch an even greater challenge against the World Government."

"Oh!" Kizaru looked at Deidara with interest. "How do you plan to retaliate against the World Government?"

Deidara looked at Kizaru, hesitated for a moment, and then revealed his plan.

When Kizaru heard that Deidara was planning to form a pirate crew with all members capable of flying back to the first half of the Grand Line, and then use his and his crew's flying abilities to launch a large-scale attack on supply ships bound for the Holy Land, thus cutting off the Holy Land's food and water supply, his eyes lit up.

This plan is highly feasible. Even if Deidara cannot do it, the ninja forces located in the East Blue, especially the elite intelligence forces managed by Minato, can.

This is indeed a good idea to strike at the World Government. More importantly, under such continuous guerrilla warfare, the true controller of the Holy Land, the master of the Five Elders, Im, will not be able to resist taking action.

If there's anyone in the entire World Government, or even the entire pirate world, who could pique Kizaru's interest to even remotely intervene, it would probably be this mysterious woman named Im.

Both her own strength and the ancient weapons she might possess are things that interest Kizaru.

However, the Land of Light is not yet ready to smoothly take over the world after overthrowing the World Government, so Kizaru refrained from testing Im's interest.

But this time, after hearing Deidara's idea, he felt that this might be an opportunity, a chance to probe for more information about Im without directly triggering a war between the Land of Light and the World Government.

Kizaru sized up Deidara, and when Deidara grew impatient with his gaze, he spoke up: "Your plan is quite good. If you can truly put the World Government and the nobles of the Holy Land in a difficult situation, then I can decide to award you the highest rank of Jonin, Level 3, after the mission is completed. If you perform even better afterward, even the Kage rank is not a problem."

Faced with the promise Kizaru made, the young Deidara didn't hesitate much and took the bait. With a hint of arrogance, he said, "Prepare a Kage-level military rank for me in the Land of Light, and my plan will be fine."

"Hehehe! What a confident brat. I'll be waiting for your good news in the East Blue." Kizaru planned to use Deidara, this energetic big fish, to lure Im, this giant crocodile.

After encouraging Deidara, Kizaru stood still and watched Deidara ride away on the giant clay bird.

After Deidara left, Kizaru also left the island. He had quite a few things to keep in mind for the next period of time.

Major events such as the formation of the new Navy and welcoming Zephyr, and minor events such as Ebizo and Chiyo urging Sasori to get married, are all things that Kizaru either has to pay attention to or that Kizaru is interested in.

Kizaru, having left the island, did not return to Amegakure, where he was currently being hunted by the Marines led by Hashirama.

Hashirama reported to Akainu about his encounter and fight with Deidara, and also told Akainu his judgment that Deidara was unlikely to return to Amegakure.

However, Akainu still demanded that the Navy allow entry into the Alabasta Kingdom. According to Akainu, since Deidara stayed there, it meant that there might be his accomplices there, or at least traces of his residence, which the Navy should collect.

After Deidara attacked the Celestial Gold, personnel from the Navy and CP intelligence organization went to the scene of the battle. They sent specialists into the deep waters of the battle area to try to salvage the sunken Celestial Gold.

However, the personnel who dived to the bottom of the water only found a very small amount of residue; the truly valuable goods had long since disappeared.

This discovery led both the Navy and the World Government to suspect that Deidara had accomplices hiding beneath the sea, who were using the opportunity of Deidara's attack on the Navy and their subsequent battle to move the sunken Heavenly Treasure.

Their guess was correct; even professional intelligence personnel from the World Government suspected the Fish-Men, but they lacked substantial evidence.

Therefore, the World Government has planted fish-man spies on Fish-Man Island to investigate the recent activities of those fish-man pirates.

This time, the Navy's sweeping search of the rain-covered land was because they suspected that Deidara had his own companions, or even that Deidara might belong to some force on the sea. This move against the Celestial Gold was a challenge to the World Government and the Navy.

The World Government and Navy can accept the loss of Celestial Gold once, but this is the only time they can accept such a loss. Any more than that would shake the World Government's finances, the Navy's military spending, and the wealth of the World Nobles, which is unacceptable to both the World Government and the Navy.

Therefore, they must make an example of Deidara, capture him as quickly and violently as possible, investigate his accomplices or the forces behind him, and then completely destroy them as a response to the sea.

In the rain, Ebizo was doing his best to deal with the navy's search, ensuring they wouldn't discover the city's connection to the Land of Light.

On Fishman Island, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was stationed there, had no choice but to step in and clean up the mess left by Kisame and Deidara, in order to prevent the World Government from discovering the whereabouts of Kisame's Fishman Pirates during those days, thus exposing the cooperation between Kisame's Fishman Pirates and Deidara, which could bring annihilation to Fishman Island.

In both locations, if it weren't for the presence of cunning old foxes like Ebizo and Hiruzen Sarutobi, Deidara and Kisame's supposedly flawless collaboration would have been exposed long ago.

From the above, Danzo's dissatisfaction with Kizaru's behavior towards Deidara and Kisame for causing such a big incident without authorization is understandable.

The navy searched the rainy lands for three whole days and the Alabasta Kingdom for a whole week, but found nothing except for the traces that Deidara had briefly stayed at an inn.

Deidara seemed to have only come here for a short rest, and Hashirama took the opportunity to report a misleading speculation to Akainu at headquarters: "Fleet Admiral Akainu, is Deidara coming to the Alabasta Kingdom to rest because he is preparing to cross the Red Line and go to the East Blue to hide?"

Before Hashirama spoke, Akainu already had this guess in his mind. He even had a more direct guess: "Hashirama, do you think this pirate named Deidara is from the East Blue, from that country called the Land of Light? His attack on the Celestial Gold was all ordered by Kizaru from the Land of Light?"

Hashirama wanted to tell Akainu directly that it was impossible, because he came from the East Blue and could testify that Deidara's serious crimes were entirely the result of this reckless kid's own actions and had no connection whatsoever with the Land of Light.

"Fleet Admiral Akainu, our relationship with the Land of Light is indeed only a temporary compromise, but I don't think even the leaders of the Land of Light would arrange for their subordinates to do such a thing so soon after reaching a peace agreement."

Rather than questioning Deidara's connection to the Land of Light, I'm more suspicious that this kid made a decision on a whim. You should know very well just how foolish and audacious those pirates are.

Akainu remained silent for a moment. He knew exactly what pirates were like when they went crazy, and in his eyes, Deidara was no different from a madman.

“Regardless of their relationship, I will inform the World Government and share your analysis with them, so they can contact the East Blue and assist us in our investigation,” Akainu said, suppressing his anger and frustration. “In any case, we must not let this heinous criminal get away with it.”

After ending the call, Akainu began dialing the number between himself and the Five Elders. Unbeknownst to him, Zephyr's warships were currently passing through the calm zone and entering the East Blue. (End of Chapter)