What if L was in Near's place against a-Kira (Minoru Tanaka)? Here's how he would win.
Hey guys, I've been thinking about a "What If" scenario. What if L never died and had to investigate the Death Note auction instead of Near? Personally, I think L would actually catch Minoru, and his whole strategy would be based on reading Ryuk.
Hear me out. When the auction is announced on TV, L wouldn't just blindly look at Japan. He would think there’s a high percentage that the Japan announcement is just a distraction to make the police look there while the actual user is abroad. But L knows Ryuk's personality. Ryuk is addicted to entertainment and wants to replicate what he had with Light. L would also look back at C-Kira (the one who only killed old people and gave up) and deduce that Ryuk learned his lesson. This time, Ryuk would look for a young, smart student, because his previous attempt failed.
L would target students because young people don't have a formed ideology yet. They are audacious and want to challenge the system, just like Light did and just like Minoru does when he promises Ryuk a perfect plan in 2 years. An older person would either follow Kira's old ideals or act out of fear. They wouldn't have the guts of a student.
To find him, L would order his agents to filter school grades for hidden geniuses. Minoru has terrible grades, which is a great camouflage, but L wouldn't stop there. If L heard local rumors about a student with crazy high intelligence who underperforms in school, he would immediately suspect him.
Minoru tells Ryuk to move underground during transmissions, but L still has the Task Force agents (Matsuda, Aizawa, Mogi) who can see Ryuk. L would deploy them secretly around suspected students. If Ryuk disobeyed Minoru’s orders even once because he likes to show off, the Task Force would spot him.
Meanwhile, Minoru would notice that L is completely silent. Since Ryuk told him how dangerous L is, this silence would make Minoru paranoid, thinking L is already close to his door.
To break Minoru's caution, L makes a multi-billion dollar bid to buy the notebook. Minoru relaxes, thinking: "L couldn't find me, so he is forced to play by my rules and buy it." Because he lowers his guard, Minoru allows Ryuk more freedom, leading to the Task Force spotting the Shinigami right over Minoru's classroom.
L would then confront Minoru casually, sitting in his classic posture. Minoru is just a pragmatic kid, he doesn't have Light's God-complex, so he would feel a terrifying intellectual gap and think: "So this is the monster that Light Yagami had to duel against!!"
But L wouldn't actually arrest him. Instead, he would show his intellectual superiority and offer the boy a deal. L would say something like: "Look, I'm not here to put you in jail. But this notebook is too dangerous for the world." Then, L would offer to buy the Death Note from Minoru privately using his own massive international funds, making a secret deal just between the two of them so Minoru could get his money safely without anyone else getting hurt.
Thank you for reading, and of course I might be wrong in my hypothesis, so feel free to correct me.