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[Rule
X](http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note#How_to_Use:_X) in
the Death Note states:

>   2. Whether the cause of the individual's death is either a suicide or
> accident, if the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the
> person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that other lives
> are not influenced.
>

However, [Rule
XXVI](http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note#How_to_Use:_XXVI)
states:

>   2. Even though only one name is written in the Death Note, if it
> influences and causes other humans that are not written in it to die, the
> victim’s cause of death will be a heart attack
>

Besides the fact that I find these 2 rules to be contradicting (correct me if
I'm wrong), it still made me curious: **Is it possible to kill people
indirectly with the Death Note?**

For example, writing a heart surgeon's name during a operation, or a pilot's
name while mid-flight.


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death-note
Is it possible to kill people indirectly with the Death Note?


The rules aren't contradicting. Both say that you cannot use the death note to
kill other people whose names aren't written in it. For example, you can't
write

> John Doe went to the mall, took out a rifle, shot everyone in the moll dead,
> then had an heart attack

Because that would mean other people would die.

As for your specific examples, you cannot write passenger plane crash as the
cause of death for a pilot, because that would kill other passengers too. If
you wanted, you could write "The pilot disabled the auto-pilot, then had an
heart attack". That way, the plane crash has nothing to do with his death, and
the plane would still (probably) crash.


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_People who name is not written in the note shall not die due someone else
that will die due his name being in the Death Note_ , both rules can be boiled
down to that. That is what the _If the death leads to the death of more than
the intended_ means. As long as the death of the person leads to someone else
dead, or the conditions prior death can cause death to others, they will die
of a heart attack.

There's no contradiction, both rules says the same just in different ways.

In the example you made: both will die in such way that nobody else dies. The
surgeon will step back of the table and die, the pilot will die when he's not
piloting. Of course, this is mere supposition and details could escape.

Light made some experiments trying to kill in such impossible ways (like a
Japanese prisoner died in front of Eiffel Tower), those died on hearts
attacks.


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Going by the letter of the law,

> If the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will
> simply die of a heart attack.”

logically implies that the surgeon and pilot will die of heart attacks.

This probably makes the most sense. Were it otherwise, people who know the
rules could make themselves (nearly) invincible to the Death Note by having a
system by which, if they die, someone else is killed (or kills themself). I
say “nearly” because the cause of death could be made to say “die at midnight”
for both people, and that might kill them. Obviously, the Death Note user
would have to know both people involved, which could be made near-impossible
quite easily[1].

Though, there is the further question of whether “die at midnight” would work.
One person's name has to be written first, and at the time at which it is
written, it is not allowed. However, writing the other person's name after
then makes it allowed again. When are the rules evaluated, and by what means?
Death Note has the power to predict the future of its victims, but can it
predict the future of its own use? This is into the realm of time paradoxes!

Or, you could just say that they die of a heart attack. ;-)

_Edit:_ [1]For example, if L wanted to make himself invincible to the Death
Note, he could have some system by which someone from Wammy's House is killed
if he dies. Then, to kill L, a Death Note user needs both L's name and the
name and face of that person who gets killed. Even for someone with shinigami
eyes, that's virtually impossible to work out.


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