Shoma thinks it over, not knowing anyone well enough that he would risk allowing to know information. "I don't know them well enough to trust them with a big task," he starts. "Although, Juugo is probably the one that would impossible to take down in case there is a breach here," he says.

"I'm taking him with me. He's asked to join my guards, and I can control his rages."

He nods, not knowing anyone else who could be of use. He would have suggested Suigetsu, but Shoma hasn't seen him ever since their fight. 

"I'll do what I can," he says.

"I can send you more backup once things calm."

Time passes, Shoma doing as he was told and keeps the base in order, making sure no-one is showing any signs of retaliation or defecting. He makes bonds with other ex-prisoners, gaining their trust. He knows that having them on his side would make them easier to manage. However, he also enjoys these bonds. 

There had been a few skirmishes and fights, however they had been easy to subdue. Shoma works with the other loyalists during this time, the base more secure and less prone to attacks than it had been originally.

Sasuke, meanwhile, finishes securing the less critical hideouts. The one Karin's been promoted to is the easiest; she's the sole shinobi in charge, and she laughs as she ceremonially hands keys that don't actually do anything over to him. The prisoners there are already aware of the coup - Karin'd been successfully faking reports and avoiding experiments - so transition is easy.

The others are more problematic. Some of them are farther, grown wild far from Orochimaru's influence. Many refuse to bow to him. Some actually give him a moderate challenge in doing that.

Still, it's less than a month before he's almost entirely sure he's secured his rule and cleaned house of the dumber traitors.

His advisory council and guards have a lot of overlap, and both are as diverse in origins, potential secondary loyalties, and opinions as he could arrange. He closes most of the foreign bases - no point in tweaking the noses of people he or the new daimyo Kyoku will be trying to ally with. He assigns shinobi to Kyoku's whim, who she promptly uses to start clearing out bandits and pirates and protecting traders.

And then, about a month after freeing Shoma's base (there's been plenty of communication in that time of course), he returns in person.

Shoma remains vigilant in keeping the base in order, however does not do this with harsh words or threats of punishment, simply having to speak to others to calm them down. There had been a few who had tried to attack the base, but they were easily held back by those who had stayed behind to help protect the base.

The people have grown stronger and some have even worked on improving their powers, having become useful allies. Shoma is checking over the supplies that they have when Sasuke returns. Now that things were quieter, some of the focus had gone onto providing food for everyone at the base which proved difficult since they were miles away from the closest village and some might be recognised due to their disappearances. They had managed to create a system where a different person went on the journey to gain food, as well as remain hidden.

Shoma makes a list of what they will need to stock up on, having left the other loyalists to keep an eye on the others in the base.

"You've been doing well," he notes when the meeting arrives.

Shoma nods, grateful for the calm and quietness. "We've been doing our best," he says. "Everyone's been well-behaved and there's been no uprising. They're all happy, although that's likely because they're not being experimented on," he tells him. 

"That's good. I'll want to look into moving people to the Land of Rice Fields - I'm trying to close the foreign bases, to simplify supply and diplomacy."

"They'll go easily, no-one will complain about leaving here," he says. "When would they be moved?" he asks. "Some might wish to return home," he adds, knowing that many stayed behind to help but some were longing to return to their families.

"Over the next two months; here's stable enough a sudden mass emigration isn't called for, and it'll take time to prepare wherever they'll be stationed. People who want to go home can; I'm presuming no one's been handed state secrets."

He nods, understanding the logic. "No-one's been told anything secretive. Only those that were chosen to be part of the group and proved themselves trustworthy enough within the group know" he says. "When should I let them know of the move?" he asks. 

"Tomorrow. I don't want rumors spreading if only some leave in secret, so it'll have to be known widely."

"Tomorrow then," he says. "Anything else we should be notified of?" he asks.

"There's a new daimyo in Rice Fields. Ueda Kyoku. She's ambitious, and has plans for a restoration of the country."

"Sounds like a better daimyo than the last one," he says. "Should we be keeping an eye on her?" he asks. 

"There's no good candidates to take over for her, and she seems pretty passionate about improving things, so an eye's worth keeping but I wouldn't undermine her. We'll want to prevent any attempts to remove her, too, I don't want to deal with the headache if we wind up without a royal line." Especially because people might try to make him take the country over, which'd make Rice Field's few samurai angry and which'd alarm the neighboring daimyo... And which'd be a pain in the ass even without international politics.

"We'll send a few people out to keep an eye on the situation then, and make sure no-one tries to remove her. If anyone starts anything, we can deal with it effectively and under the radar," he says. He knows that lacking a royal line would create a difficult and politically suicidal situation. 

"That was the plan, yes. Recruiting for that will be delicate; I'll want to be sure of everyone involved's allegiance."

"I'll wait to choose those who will go then. If you want to question those who are chosen then that can happen," he says.

"We'll be taking multiple precautions. Are you interested, in a post as an advisor?"

He was surprised at the offer, however didn't show it. "If i'm needed, I'd be more than happy to take the post," he says. 

"It'd be a useful position for you. Especially once this base has been fully integrated into the nation."

"I'd like to take the position then," he says. "Anything specific you'd need me to do?" he asks.