Death



Death (死, Shi) is the 5th chapter of Volume eight and 66th chapter overall.

Plot
Ryuk comforts Shidoh by telling him that everyone’s looking for the Death Note, and, once they find a picture of the kidnappers, he can track them down from the Shinigami realm using his Shinigami Eyes. Once Shidoh finds the current owner, he must follow the human until the human dies and he can then reclaim the Death Note for his own use.

Meanwhile Light asks Near who he suspects is the leader of the kidnappers. Near refuses because he no longer feels compelled to work with the new L and the Japanese police after they practically gave away the Death Note to the kidnappers. He tells Light that he feels that the new L is incompetent and, unlike the real L, has done nothing to further the Kira investigation. Light is provoked by this and vows to get the Death Note back before Near and kill him along with the kidnappers.

Suddenly, several of the SPK members fall down dead, including Steve Mason the head of the FBI! One of them even shoots himself with a gun!

Near had suspected that the kidnappers had a spy in his organization and that he is one of the victims, the kidnappers having no further use for him and being anxious to prevent Near from using him in order to track them down. Only a few members now remain.

Light tells Near that he should quit being so resistant and share information with him so that they can both catch Kira as quickly as possible. Light asks that Near tell him who he suspects of being the kidnappers, and in exchange Light will give him details about the Death Note. For Near, it is a tempting offer, but it is rather dangerous to tell L about Mello because he fears that he will trace both Mello and Near to Wammy's House and that their details will be known to the Japanese police and hence Kira. However, he is confident that he has destroyed all pictures and information about himself. Near tells Light about Mello and that he used to live at Wammy's.

Two days later, Light finds out that Mafia thugs around the U.S. are dying in unprecedented numbers, leading him to believe that the kidnappers have mob ties. Aizawa and Matsuda return from England with information they found out about Mello from Wammy's House. It seems that it was an educational facility to train the next L, and Mello and a boy named Near were the top two contenders. When L died, Mello left the orphanage, refusing to work with Near. All photographs of them have been destroyed, but a fellow resident drew their portraits. Light realizes that somehow he is still fighting against L and fells a surge of exictement at the thought of pitting his wits against L's successors!

Conception
Ohba said the chapter's title "Death" simply refers to the discussion of Rem's death at the start of the chapter and the deaths of the SPK members that happen later in the chapter.