Eyeballs

 Eyeballs (眼球 Gankyū) is the fifth chapter in the Death Note manga. The events in this chapter take place in episode 3 of the anime, Dealings (取引 Torihiki).

Plot
As Light walks home from school, Ryuk tells him that he is neither on his side or L’s side. However, Ryuk feels like he should tell Light that during the last couple of days there has been a man following him. Even though initially Light is surprised, he still thinks that the FBI investigator knows nothing of his identity. Still, Light is determined to find out his name without looking too suspicious.

Ryuk then tells Light the purpose of the Death Note. A shinigami gets extra life from killing humans in his Death Note, which is why a shinigami can live for many years and cannot be killed in any other way. However, shinigami are apathetic when it comes to the human world, and they sometimes forget to write down names for centuries. Then, Ryuk explains to Light that the shinigami have eyes that allow them to see any human’s real name and life span over their head. In addition, a shinigami can make a deal with the owner of the Death Note to receive the “shinigami eyes” in exchange for half of that human’s lifespan. Ryuk mentions that he can see Light’s lifespan, but isn’t going to tell him how many years he has left because he is neither on his or L’s side. Ryuk offers to make a deal with Light for the “Shinigami Eyes”.

Conception
The chapter's title "Eyeballs" relates to the Shinigami Eye deal that Light could make with Ryuk. Ohba believed that titles like "Eyes" or "Trade" were not interesting enough names, so he thought "Eyeballs" "sounded cooler."

Trivia

 * In this chapter Ryuk tells Light that while he is on neither Light's nor L's side in the Kira issue, he would like to let Light know that a strange man is following him.


 * Ryuk tells Light about how Shinigami take their victim's remaining lifespan, how boring the Shinigami Realm is, and about the Shinigami eye deal.