Hakuho rolled over another would-be opponent in the form of Asasekiryu on Thursday, but ozeki Baruto was handed his first defeat on the fifth day of action at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament.
After firmly putting the devastation of missing out on the all-time consecutive wins record behind him, Hakuho appears to be locked in again for another winning streak as the Kyushu meet heats up at Fukuoka Kokusai Center.
The Mongolian yokozuna pounded countryman Asasekiryu with a hard elbow to the head at the face-off in the day's final bout before escorting the No. 2 maegashira over the edge with an ironclad left-handed grip.
Asasekiryu fell to 1-4.
Hakuho was stunned by Kisenosato on Monday, seeing his 63-bout winning streak come to an end which shattered his hope of surpassing the all-time record of 69 set by yokozuna great Futabayama in 1936-39.
Rank-and-filer Shotenro, a 16th-ranked maegashira, is the unlikely leader with a 5-0 mark in the early going at the 15-day tourney.
Baruto was caught off guard by Homasho (4-1), who backed off in the crouch before springing forward like a tiger to topple the Estonian behemoth over the edge.
Yokozuna-killer Kisenosato (3-2) snapped a 10-bout losing streak to Kotooshu, picking up his second ozeki scalp after beating Harumafuji by running the Bulgarian out to a third defeat with relentlessness.