When the Shinigami Ryuk returns to Earth more than ten years after his last visit, he gives the Death Note to the top-scoring student in Japan, hoping that he will follow in Light Yagami's footsteps. He is surprised when Minoru Tanaka returns the notebook and asks him to return in two years' time.Now a high school student, Minoru accepts the notebook from Ryuk,but he has no plans to use it himself. With the Shinigami's help, andhis own ingenuity, he auctions it off anonymously as his actions arefollowed and predicted by Near. The United States of America buys it for a sum that leaves every Japanese citizen under the age of 60 set for life, but the King of Death creates a new rule of the Death Note that thwarts Minoru and the U.S. President's plans.