Ahoy, my mate!

Cum-pass

"Naruto! Hurry up!"

The blonde blinked and finally looked away from the life sized replica of a whale that was set in front of the museum, "Coming!" He exclaimed before following his fellow ninjas into the museum. "This place is cool." An awestruck blonde murmured as he strolled passed each exhibit,

Sakura scoffed, "Sure. If you're into dusty junk and dead animals." She muttered as she passed a dinosaur skeleton. However, the second she saw someone coming towards them she cooed in delight while looking at a random exhibit that had a model and the real outfit of one pirate named Jack Sparrow. "Oh wow! Everything here is so cool!" She exclaimed, making Naruto, Gaara and Shino shoot her puzzled looks.

"I'm so glad you agree! It's my favorite too despite the inaccuracies" The man, who had all of his black hair pulled back in a lot of braids and a goatee, said and his eyes lit up the second he saw their headbands. "Oh wonderful! You must be the ninjas who are helping us transfer the artifacts from the desert to here. Thank you for coming here first. I'm Ja-Kelab, the curator of this museum." He said bowing slightly and moving his hands elegantly subtly showing off the several rings on his hands.

Gaara nodded, "Yes, my village is experienced with sandy areas so the desert will be no problem. We will be in charge of protecting the site from the sand as the Leaf ninjas help unbury the artifacts and we'll bring it here. Is there anything we should know about?"

Kaleb nodded, "Yes. From what little was revealed of the ship so far there might be a chance that it's the legendary Black Pearl. If so please be especially careful of the sails. The black sails are iconic for that ship and do be very careful looking around the area. The Black Pearl was rumored to have several artifacts ... like a compass that doesn't point north."

"We'll be as thorough as possible." Gaara said and the other ninjas nodded.

Kelab grinned, "Much obliged, savvy. Off you go!" He said dismissively.

The second the ninjas left the museum Sakura scoffed, "Why would anyone want a compass that they already know doesn't even work? It better have jewels on it."

"It's an historic artifact and that's enough for a museum curator to want it. Maybe there's a story behind it. Not everyone needs a jewel encrusted surprise for something to be considered special." Naruto commented casually only to get a glare from the pink haired team member, who seemed to think it was an insult even though Naruto didn't mean it that way.

Of course, that glare was met with a glare from Gaara and a dangerous hiss from the insect user's insects. It was enough to make Sakura back off, but not completely shut up. Sadly, she just changed topics.

The pink haired ninja huffed, "We should look for Sasuke as we travel to the desert." Sakura exclaimed happily.

"No." Everyone else said in perfect synchronized bluntness leaving Sakura sulking for the rest of the trip.

Thankfully, the desert site was big and there were a lot of people, both civilian archaeologists and ninjas. With lots of witnesses around Sakura was on her best behavior and basically wasn't seen except for meals. It was a rather peaceful mission once Sakura was kept busy.

Naruto watched as Shino's insects flew up and into the half buried ship, "It's mostly uncovered ... It has been 3 days so far so we're right on schedule."

"Maybe. Finding and securing everything might delay us so we might still be hit by the dust storms." Shino said as his insects returned to give a full report. "I have the inventory and an idea of the layout of the ship."

"Ok. Let's go talk with the archaeologists." Naruto said cheerfully and the next steps were discussed thoroughly.

The reports from the insects confirmed that the ship was still in fairly good condition and it would be safe to set upright. As Gaara shifted the sand to gently lift the ship so it was no longer on its side Naruto spotted something appear and disappear as the grains of sand moved. Since it looked small and was fairly close to the ship Naruto decided to investigate. Just in case it was an artifact the blonde grabbed some of the same protective gloves that he saw the archaeologists wear so he didn't damage whatever it is.