Allies

Allies or Friends (連合国, Rengō kuni) is the fortieth chapter of the Death Note manga series.

Plot
L tells the police officers in the Kira Task Force to return to the NPA now that the authorities have unofficially called off the search for Kira. He will continue the investigation alone—with Light Yagami who is permanently chained to him. However, Soichiro Yagami insists that he and his men should be allowed to decide for themselves: Their jobs and pensions may be at stake but so is their pride.

Soichiro, Matsuda and Mogi all decide to quit the force and continue working on the Kira investigation. Aizawa is unsure because he has a wife and children to support. He tries to persuade L to let him work on the Kira inquiry while staying a policeman, but L now sees the Japanese police as a hostile element which cannot be trusted and insists that Aizawa must decide on one or the other and cannot have it both ways.

Soichiro tells Aizawa that no one would blame him if he drops out of the Kira case. He also has a family to support but wants to continue for personal reasons since his own son was suspected of being Kira. L reminds him that Light is not completely cleared of suspicion.

Aizawa does not hide his frustration. He has responsibilities but also wants to continue with the case if only to avenge his friend Hirokazu Ukita, the victim of a Kira-related killing. At that moment, Watari contacts L via his computer and reminds him that, in case of such an event as this, he has set up lifelong pension plans for the policemen who joined the Kira Task Force. This should enable them to continue outside the police and remain financially secure. L reprimands him for mentioning such details and Aizawa realizes that L was testing him and his commitment. Outraged by L's attitude, Aizawa storms out—though L does somewhat nonchalantly thank him for his help so far.

The remaining detectives resume the investigation. In their meeting room they go through the evidence, but also keep an eye on Misa Amane in her apartment. Light discovers another "accidental" death, Junichi Yaibe, who was killed falling down some stairs. He was expected to take over as head of the Otomo Bank after the original president was questioned by the police for alleged corruption. Otomo is in trouble and is likely to be taken over by Yotsuba which will then become Japan's number one bank. Soichiro then makes an important discovery of his own: All the deaths linked to Yotsuba occurred during the week-ends, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. L is puzzled by this fact: If this is the work of the original Kira then he would have scattered the deaths throughout the week. Could it be that this is not the original Kira after all?

Everyone is impressed at Soichiro finding this out before L and Light. Mogi then hands over a huge pill of papers which he has compiled of all the employees of Yotsuba both in Japan and abroad. Matsuda is feeling more and more inadequate—being reduced to just escorting Misa to her modeling and acting assignments.

The sheer size of the number of potential suspects makes the detectives realize that they need more staff, but L no longer trusts the police. Instead, he tells Watari to contact a couple of outsiders, Wedy and Aiber, whom he has never actually met face-to-face but trusts enough to let them meet him personally.

Wedy and Aiber arrive at the HQ three days later. Both are Westerners and professional crooks, but not on the scale that they would attract Kira's attention. Wedy, a young blond-haired woman, is a burglar who can break into almost any lock, safe or security system—she has even just managed to break unnoticed into the highly-secure building. Aiber is a con-man with a natural appeal which enables him to charm just about anyone he meets. L reveals that he has many other underworld contacts and will summon them if necessary. Soichiro looks uneasy about working with criminals but Light is more open to the idea and makes them welcome.

Meanwhile Aizawa is sitting on a park bench in a state of oblivion. His wife and children, who have been out shopping, see him and go and join him. At first pleased to see them, Aizawa announces that they can spend more time together but then starts to cry: The delight of being with his family is conflicted by the fact that he has practically given in to Kira!

Conception
The chapter's title "Allies" was chosen because of how the team gained Aiber and Wedy as allies and lost Aizawa as an ally. Ohba had described the title as "ironic."

In the Black Edition, the title is translated as "Friends".