... well, yes, he chose to join Orochimaru of his own free will, what sort of person do you expect him to be? -- that was the response that flashed through Sasuke's head most immediately, with the accompanying desire to raise a sardonic eyebrow to express what he thought of Lee's apparent naivete regarding his opponent. The necessity of repressing it lay in the fact that, irrespective of the quality of his information on his enemies, Lee was still a quantity worth knowing and a shinobi worth an alliance in a place like this. That, and Sasuke didn't know the other ninja well enough to be quite certain of what Lee might have expected in a man like Kabuto, and there was little time to discover it. The stir amongst the staff gathering at the door was enough proof: shift was ending soon.

It was too soon for Sasuke's tastes, especially given the answer he'd just received. If only Naruto had been at Landel, that might have made sense: from the intelligence Sasuke had of Jiraiya's movements, a lapse in their presence would have been common enough. In fact, if there were someone Sasuke might have chosen to take in order to avoid notice, Naruto might well have been one such choice, especially with the nine-tails in tow.

But Naruto had said he couldn't feel the kyuubi's chakra at all, here; more blatantly obvious, others whose absence would have been missed had been here. It made no sense whatsoever -- could Landel control time in other worlds?

"Other shinobi have been here," Sasuke replied, searching for a concise way to explain things. "Mostly Konoha-nin. All of my former team, my replacement on it, and a handful of others. Some have been here multiple times."

A pause, and then deciding that there was no other conclusion to draw: "As have you. But you bear no memory of it, do you?"