There was something different about static in silence. It sounded clearer, more defined. Comforting in fact, a steady reminder that no matter how unbroken the black around seemed, there was life out there. Or maybe Iruka had simply been listening too hard for too long. In the cold humidity of the night, he almost thought he heard a pattern in the sound.

Pzzt. Pzzt. Pzzzzzzt.

But, probably not. He sighed as if he could release the tension in his muscles into the dark around him and forget, for a moment at least, that it was there. He couldn't, though, his breath simply condensed against the thick, black cloth pulled around his mouth, growing hotter and damper with each breath.

Pzzt. Pzzzzzzt. Pzzzt.

Had he missed the signal? His knees were knotted from crouching in the branches of the trees, and the muscles in his back had long ago settled into stiffness. Had he missed the signal? Ignorance was his enemy for certain, more so than the Cloud-nin-ghosts that he felt watching him through the twisting forest. Was the mission over? Had something gone wrong?

Pzzt. Pzzt. Pzzt.

Only the crackle of static in his ear answered. Calm down. You can do this. You've done it before, you can do it this time too. Iruka shifted, ignoring his complaining knees and swung forward from beneath the leaves to lean flat on the branch and peer through the darkness.

There was no movement that he could see, no indication of the others out there, but, really, he could barely see the outline of the Raikage's fortress against the obsequious sky so that didn't mean much.

Had he missed the signal? I couldn't have missed it.

The static jumped suddenly, and a hushed voice broke through the crackle. "Squad one in place. Over."

Iruka's breath fluctuated and he sucked in deep then coughed as he breathed in a mouthful of cloth. Calm - down.

"Roger," the team captain's voice hummed, "squad one, two, three move in."

That wasn't the signal. It was close, so close Iruka wanted to move in anyway to watch, to make sure he didn't miss the signal when it came. He wouldn't move, though. There were too many things that could wrong, and he'd been on too many of these already to make stupid mistakes like that. Leave the mistakes to the new chuunin on the frontline.

"Squad one. Sector one clear, proceeding to sector two."

"Roger. Squad three. Approaching the target."

"Roger all. Move in."

Not long now. Iruka counted his heartbeats. From here, there should be a hundred and five until the signal.

One, two, three, four - was that four? it seemed too faint - five, six, seven…

"Hey!" a voice Iruka still wasn't used to hearing - the rookie - laughed over the comm, "what kinda B mission is this? There's no one here!"

"Radio silence," the disembodied voice of the leader enjoined.

The rookie made a dismissive noise. "Rooooooger."

Silence hung again, interrupted only by the occasional creak and rustle of branches and the regular buzz of static. Iruka hung to his branch in breathless silence and waited. How much longer? He'd lost count, and his heartbeats where coming too irregularly to be an accurate measure. How much longer?

"Squad two. Kage-hime summons scroll located. Permission to proceed?"

A long stretch of wavering silence. "Granted."

Silence again, but it wasn't long before a voice cut through the air. "Stand down, Aishida!"

"Why?" the rookie asked darkly, "No one's hear. These cloud guys are pathetic; let's just grab the scroll and run."

You're the one who's pathetic, Iruka wanted to growl, patience worn so thin. Thin as his nerves. Thin as the beat of his pulse.

"Stand down!" squad two's leader snapped again, desperately this time. Iruka could hear the barely contained panic on the edge of the man's voice, and it made his heart beat just a little more.

Silence. Iruka couldn't stand it anymore; the rookie had already broken the plan, so there was no need to wait for a signal. Ignoring the moans of cramped fibres, he dropped from the branch to the ground, and a heartbeat later, the sky split with fire. Iruka turned away, arm flung desperately in front of his face to protect himself from the surprise more than the flaming wreckage that was once the fortress' east wing.

"Squad two?" The team captain hissed urgently. "Squad two, respond."

"Squad two here."

"What happened? Repeat. What happened? Dammit."

"Fucking Aishida, sir. Opened the scroll."

"Soooorry."

"Shut up, Aishida," Iruka spoke up for the first time, winning a strained chuckle from someone on the comm.

"Squad one. We got a problem captain."

"Perfect. What?"

"Cloud-nins. Maybe twenty-five. Coming in from all directions. E-T-A, five minutes, I'd guess."

A mumbled swearword or two. "Squad four?" The captain demanded finally. "Consider that your new signal. Everyone move in and prepare for combat. Aishida, you and I are going to have words after this."

A chorus of yessirs, one from Iruka's mouth, echoed in the burning night. Iruka stretched in the darkness and drew a kunai.

I really need to find a new job.