The crowd went wild even before the match started. After all, most of them had only come to see Sasuke fight against Gaara. Considering those two Grass nin had tried to fix the outcome, a lot of money was going to change hands no matter who won.
When Genma told the two competitors to begin, sand rose out of Gaara's gourd and Sasuke immediately put some distance between them. The redhead began to pant as more and more sand gathered in the air around him. His regular chakra got tainted by the one that leaked out of his seal with every passing second, and he was gripping his head as if in pain. He seemed to be talking to himself as well, but he was too far away for Haruka to understand the words. Then it was suddenly over. Both his body language and chakra calmed down from one moment to the next.
Judging by his expression the change disturbed Sasuke as much as it did Haruka, but unlike her he couldn't just watch. To test the waters the Uchiha threw two shuriken at his opponent. It was a straight forward attack, easy to block or dodge. Gaara did neither. His sand caught the projectiles, but instead of letting them clatter to the ground it formed into a clone and hurled them back. Following in their wake was a wave of sand that Sasuke had to jump over.
He moved in close, kicking at the clone with so much force that the hands trying to block him exploded back into a formless mass of sand. Sasuke smashed his left arm into the clone's throat in a way that would crush a human's windpipe. All that did was get him stuck, but he didn't panic. Merely used the arm to keep the clone in place while his right struck at the head, destroying the clone and giving him a clear path towards Gaara.
He moved in for a straight hit, shifting his weight at the last second, and then he was suddenly beside the redhead with no wall of sand in the way. Gaara was thrown back when the fist collided with his face, sand armor cracking and crumbling. It looked remarkably like his match against Lee. Sasuke even used the same stance to taunt his opponent.
Haruka had been faster than Sasuke a month ago. She probably still was over short distances, but Sasuke was running all over the place and maintaining his speed even while zigzagging to avoid the spikes of sand that tried to skewer him. Changes in direction like that, and without slowing down, had to put a massive amount of strain on his body.
Kick after kick he chipped away Gaara's armor. They both seemed fine for now, but they'd have to change things up soon. A battle of attrition wouldn't end well for either of them. With the amount of chakra it consumed Gaara couldn't keep up his sand armor forever and Sasuke wouldn't get past it with nothing but speed and taijutsu.
When the Uchiha next ran at him Gaara began gathering more and more sand around him, both from his gourd and the arena floor. A spherical cocoon formed around the redhead, and when Sasuke struck it spikes formed, almost skewering him. He managed to dodge most of them, but there was still blood dripping down his arms.
Naruto rushed out of the room, Shikamaru right behind him. Haruka had only half-listened to their conversation, but from what she'd gathered they wanted to find Kakashi and stop the fight. She didn't follow. Kakashi already knew about her encounters with Gaara on the roof and in the hospital. Whatever they had to say wouldn't change anything now.
Down in the arena Sasuke jumped backwards, and half-way up the wall before he stopped, crouching on the vertical surface. Haruka's eyes went wide the second she recognized the seals he was running through. The Uchiha wasn't nearly as fast as Kakashi, but the lightning dancing around his hand as he completed the Chidori was just as impressive. When Sasuke sprinted back down the wall again the jutsu ripped a deep groove into the stone.
Sand spikes stabbed at him once more, but this time the lightning chakra ripped straight through the cocoon. The impact created a little crater on the outside of the sphere, even melting some of the sand. An inhuman scream pierced the silence that had settled over the arena, but then the sand flowed back in, trapping Sasuke's arm. He struggled to pull it free, and when he did a clawed mass that was shot through by black and purple veins followed.
The thing was sucked back into the sphere a moment later, leaving behind a hole. Then the cocoon melted away, to reveal Gaara with a bloody wound in his left shoulder. He was oddly hunched over, staring at the ground and chuckling to himself. The eerie sound carried far, echoing between the walls, and then white feathers fell from the sky.
Haruka immediately felt the intrusion of foreign chakra. The genjutsu shattered before it could even take hold, but the few other genin still in the waiting room fell to the ground, unconscious. She laid a palm on Sai's forehead, feeding a tiny amount of her chakra into his pathways. The disruption canceled the genjutsu, and the burst of pain had him jumping to his feet before he was fully awake again.
A smoke bomb went off in the Hokage's box, the sound of something massive breaking and hitting the ground came from somewhere to the east and chaos broke out in the stands, as the hidden ANBU began fighting what appeared to be Suna and Oto shinobi. Kankuro and Temari joined Gaara inside the arena, and then fled over the wall, while their sensei stayed behind to fight Genma.
Sasuke followed the Suna team, and Haruka was about to do the same when Jubei appeared.
"The Hyuga girl that's been training you has been kidnapped by two guys with Kumo hitai-ate," he said so fast it was barely more than one word. Haruka stopped dead in her tracks, cursing loudly. Sasuke would need help, but if those assholes from Lightning got Hinata over the border…
"Go," Sai interrupted her thoughts. "I'll keep the Uchiha alive until you get back." Haruka gave him a long look, but then nodded.
"Okay, see if you can find Naruto and Shikamaru first," she told him, then grabbed the tanuki and sprinted out. "Point me in the right direction and then find Kiba and send him after me, I might need a scent tracker if they have too much of a head start. Afterwards follow Sai please. He's going to need all the help he can get."
The Inuzuka, just like most of the other contestants, had left the waiting room after losing his match, but he was likely still around somewhere. Probably in the stands with the genin that hadn't made it to the third stage. Jubei was gone the moment Haruka finished giving instructions.
There was some kind of barrier on a nearby watchtower and she could see a giant, three-headed snake at the eastern gate. That wasn't the way the Kumo nin had fled though, so she paid neither of those things any more attention. Her only job right now was to get Hinata back.