He would even change his mask, replacing its red stripes for blue stripes, as well as his name, leaving it as just "Sasuke" written in all caps. Sasuke would create his personal villainous stable, Sasuke Group, by allying with resident heels and summoning Crazy Max (Shiima Nobunaga's punk faction) from Toryumon. The battle between the Sasuke Group and the rest of Michinoku wrestlers would have the effect of fracturing the promotion, as Dick Togo and Super Delfin had their own feud about the latter's role in the babyface team. After Togo humiliated Delfín by forcing him to crawl between his legs and later caused a riot by abusing him further, Sasuke adopted the same approach against Delfín in their battles, which eventually led to his departure from MPW to form Osaka Pro Wrestling due to both kayfabe and real dissatisfaction with the angle. Sasuke continued his war on MPW until 1999, when he was forcefully turned face again after Jinsei Shinzaki "exorcized the evil out of him." Now devoid of talent due to the absence of wrestlers who had left with Delfín and other ventures, MPW was left in ruins, a situation the now heroic Sasuke vowed to mend. In 1999 he won the NWA World Middleweight Championship vacated by old rival Ultimo Dragon. Although the tournament was promoted by Ultimo's Toryumon Japan promotion, Sasuke took the title to his base at Michinoku and styled himself a "traveling world champion" in the style of NWA World Heavyweight Champions from the 1960-80s. In 2001, Sasuke had a feud in Michinoku Pro against a returning Dick Togo and his sable, Far East Connection. Sasuke left the running of the promotion to Shinzaki in 2003 to focus on his political career, handing the president job to him. He lost the NWA title to Último Dragón, who then vacated it in preparation for his WWE career. The same year, Sasuke reconciled with Super Delfín for a special match on November 2 by mediation of Shinzaki. Toryumon X era In 2004, Sasuke became a regular wrestler for Hustle, where he played a lieutenant role to "Hustle Captain" Naoya Ogawa. At the same time, with MPW now repopulated by most of the fallen Toryumon X wrestlers, Sasuke commanded the Michinoku home army against the new top heel faction, Los Salseros Japoneses (Takeshi Minamino, Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda). He formed tag teams with Dick Togo and