Baruto won the "jūryō" division March 2006 "honbasho" tournament with a perfect 15–0 result. This was only the fourth time ever that a "jūryō" wrestler has won the championship with such a record. He was the first to achieve this since Kitanofuji, who ultimately reached the top "yokozuna" rank, in 1963. As a result of this performance he was promoted to "makuuchi", the highest division, for the first time in his career in May 2006. It is likely that Baruto could have achieved a more rapid rise to the top division, were it not for him suffering from appendicitis in November 2005, the resulting absence from the tournament sending him back down to the third-highest "makushita" division temporarily. Despite this, his rise to the top division in two years is equal to the second-fastest ever.