372 372. Corruption

Alexander woke up from his meditation and looked around. The tailed beasts were also waking up slowly and looking around.

Matatabi came to him and sat down in his lap. She cutely looked at his face and asked, "Was that a dream, G-Chan?"

He caressed her head, "No, Matatabi, it was all real. You all really met Hagoromo."

They all took a sigh of relief. Alexander decided to cheer their mood and take them out for a walk around the village.

"Let's go out and eat something, my Bijju-vengers" He proposed.

"Yay, I want Ichiraku Ramen," Chomei cheered.

"Ichiraku Ramen is in Konoha you dummy," Shukaku reminded him, embarrassing Chomei.

They all came hopping behind him. They went to the market and found a small restaurant. It didn't look big or anything. They decided to take the seats outside because if they all went in then it would get very noisy and cramped.

They looked around themselves and the whole street was filled with people but no one was buying anything from shops. In fact, no one was there eating except them.

Soon the shopowner brought the food for them which was simple fried rice. It didn't even have many vegetables or other add-ons in them.

Before the tailed beasts complained he snapped his fingers and added more stuff to their portions. They were a bit spoiled now after eating Ramen every day.

The shop owner was an old man with a crooked back. Alexander wondered why he was working even at this age.

"Hey there, why don't you hire someone for work?" He asked.

The old man weakly replied, "Hiring someone needs money, sir, and I lack that. If by luck one or two customers come to my shop in a day, I get to put food on my table."

"Don't you have a wife or children?" He asked.

"She is bedridden and my sons. *Sigh* I had two sons, they were Suna Shinobi but died in Suna and Iwa skirmishes. My wife and I were normal people and they were our only pillar of support. So, I used my remaining money to open this shop in the leftover district." The old man answered.

This raised Alexander's concern, "Leftover district?"

"Ah, you must be new here. Look around you, you will find that most of the people here are either orphaned children, widowed women, or old couples whose children died. Everyone here at one time had a Shinobi father, husband, or child who died. And what was left after their deaths were us, the leftovers." The old man explained with clear sadness on his face.

"Aren't you paid pensions?" Alexander asked. This was normal for the military. The widow or dependent parents and children would receive a pension if the soldier died.

"What is a pension?" The old man confusedly asked.

"Nothing, tell me more. What problems do people face here?" He asked more.

"Many, from simple hunger to crimes and even harassment from the village police." The man answered.

Alexander nodded, "Thank you for answering, here, this is for today's food, plus an advance payment for whenever I come to eat here."

He gave the man 200 thousand Ryo which was worth about 18 thousand dollars in earth currency.

"Do you have anything to drink? Maybe some tea?" Alexander asked before the old man could refute his money. The old man simply rushed back into the house to make tea.

"G-Chan? Are we going to help him?" Isobu politely asked.

"Yes, and you can help more. For as long as we are here, you can come here and eat and give money. If he denies, then tell him that the money I gave him was just for me." He advised them, to which they all nodded.

Then he called Ragnarok, "Raggy, seal the accounts of all the ex-council members and audit the whole village. I want to know where the money is going. Take help from Arnold and Ghost if you need to."

Ragnarok on their other side grunted, "Argh, you keep on increasing my work."

"This is for the people, Raggy, there is a whole area called the leftover district where people in poverty live. All of them had a Shinobi relative who died on whom they were dependent on. The village ignored them after the deaths which happened due to the wars they started in the first place." He explained to him.

"All right, I'll do it. What about the two ex-Kazekage, should I audit them too?" Ragnarok asked.

"No, leave them. Their nationalism was always off the charts. They would rather commit seppuku than be a part of corruption. I'm sure they are oblivious of things too." He said.

Once that was done, Alexander spoke with Olivia on the phone.

"Ah, my lovely beautiful wife, how are you?" He buttered her.

"What is it, Alex? I know you want something from me." She asked back, instantly knowing about his intentions.

"Oh, my wife knows me so well." He replied.

"I've been your wife for so many years, Alex. I know more about you than yourself," she replied.

"Oh really, then tell me where is the smallest mole on my body?" He asked jokingly.

"Huh, on your left buttcheek. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?" She blurted.

*Cough*

Alexander choked on his tea, "Hahaha, you are very observant, my wife. Okay, I wanted to start free food kitchens and orphanages around the world for a few years. Once we have taken care of this generation of problems and orphans, there won't be much need for us later."

Olivia thought for a second, "Hmm, okay, so you want to set up a temporary organization to help the orphans and poor. Sure, I can help. I will come with Amy and a team of Seraphs."

"Thank you, Olivia, I will get to work now, see you later." He cut the call and waited for the tailed beasts to devour their food.

...

The next day, Ragnarok called a council meeting. The two ex-Kazekages were oblivious to everything.

Ragnarok came and showed some anger. He was in his acting mode right now. He threw a file in front of the two Kazekages.

"Look at these and tell me how you didn't know about this?" He questioned.

The two Kazekages picked them up and started to read. The more they read the angrier their faces looked.

Ragnarok started shouting at them, "You called yourself Kazekage of Sunagakure but only cared for a selected few. Did you even once roam around the village and see how the people were living? There is a whole place called Leftover district for god's sake. Did sand blind your eyes?"

"And it's not just that, the people under you ate the whole fund allotted to help the families of deceased Shinobi. All of it was distributed among some council members and other Shinobi. Not a single coin reached the people it was meant to. You should be thankful to god that I came and took over the village from your incompetent hands."

Alexander also angrily spoke, "Not just the money, the village police have also been harassing the people there, asking for money for protection from criminals. Children are exploited and forced into labour, women are forced to do things they wouldn't have done previously to survive. What kind of management was it? I am shocked how they haven't started a protest against you, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were forcefully made silent.

"You wanted to make war with other villages while foolishly ignoring your own home. What was even the reason for the wars? You make war, destroy your resources, lose the war, and then cry to make another war so you can win and take the enemy's resources. You put yourself in this vicious cycle. Utter incompetence I would call your work."

Rasa quickly bowed to Ragnarok, "Lord Kazekage, please allow us to deal with this. We will punish all the corrupt Shinobi in Suna."

"Not just punish, you must publicly announce what they did and then punish them so if any more Shinobi thinks of taking the corruption route or harassing the people, they will remember the consequences," Ragnarok ordered them.

"Yes, Lord Kazekage, we will do it." The two bowed and ran out of the office.

"Haha, good acting, Ragnarok. For a second I thought you were really serious." Alexander praised him.

Then Ragnarok looked at Alexander with a face still serious. Alexander stopped laughing, "So you were serious?"

The next moment Ragnarok walked to his face, "BWAHAHAHA... SERIOUS MY ASS! I just wanted to scold them. They were very incompetent. So engrossed in increasing personal strength that they ignored their real duty."

Alexander laughed and started to leave. "Yeah, but it's not just them. All aristocratic societies have these problems. And it is our job to correct them. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. I got some work."

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