He also has a good opinion of this challenger, Ryouta.
If he were the Dojo Leader, he would definitely award him a badge.
"Mutual appreciation?" Aliu glanced at the calm Natsuhiko, then at the excited Ryouta, and shook his head.
"However, Brother Wusong, the gap between the challenger and Mr. Natsuhiko is huge, that's inevitable. It would be surprising if he could hold his own against Mr. Natsuhiko."
"True, Natsuhiko held back a bit on that final Flame Fist." Wusong nodded.
He then lowered his head and opened a book once more, Wanlong's latest work, "Let me know when the next match starts, there are over three hundred pages left, might finish in five minutes."
The first challenger gave Natsuhiko a pleasant surprise.
But the next three left Natsuhiko somewhat disappointed.
The second badge still couldn't be given out.
"Senior Natsuhiko has really high standards." Kona remarked.
"Isn't he worried that many challengers might be intimidated?" Flint also expressed surprise at Natsuhiko's strictness.
"You don't understand." Lance smiled and explained, "Trainers are people who know there's difficulty, yet still charge forward, right?"
With Lance's words, the few nodded knowingly.
Seems to make some sense.
During the break.
Before Natsuhiko could receive the information for the next challenger from Chrysa.
Kikuno called him aside.
"What's the matter, Ice-type Elite Four Kikuno?"
Natsuhiko looked at Kikuno's slightly embarrassed and serious expression, a bit surprised.
"Among these five challengers today... for the final match, I hope you can win, no matter if you give out a badge or not."
Upon hearing this, Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow.
He felt Kikuno must have a special reason for saying this.
"Must win?"
Kikuno pursed her lips, looking somewhat serious.
"No, I mean I hope you can do your best to win because you might not... really win."
These words made Natsuhiko even more curious about what kind of challenger could make Kikuno so focused.
"Who is it?"
"Someone who recently swept through all the Dojos in the Kanto Alliance and Hoenn Alliance, and claimed victory in the final tournament." Kikuno said.
"Both Kanto and Hoenn..."
This truly surprised Natsuhiko.
Although many Dojo Trainers don't typically send out their strongest Pokémon.
But if Natsuhiko went to challenge those Dojos now, he wouldn't have complete confidence in winning.
After all, some Gym Leaders indeed possess incredible strength. Even if their strength is matched to his level, they can rely on rich battle experience to win.
Furthermore, Kikuno's use of "sweep" is indeed somewhat exaggerated.
"If the Johto Region's alliance were established, Johto might be the same." Kikuno added.
A person like this...
"His target this time is our Sinnoh Alliance, and even though his appearance was authorized by the Alliance Headquarters, and with his strength, he has a great chance of clinching the top spot at next year's Lily annual tournament, but if we end with an all-loss record, like Kanto and Hoenn, it would be a disgrace to Sinnoh."
Kikuno was also greatly troubled.
She was the last to arrive, and completely unaware of who the five challengers to Natsuhiko were today; otherwise, she wouldn't have let this person challenge at the very start of Natsuhiko's opening of the dojo.
The Dojo staff responsible for assigning opponents to Natsuhiko must be novices, not conducting a thorough investigation of each challenger's data, otherwise they would definitely have consulted Natsuhiko before the opening ceremony.
"So, who exactly is it?"
Natsuhiko was getting increasingly curious.
In fact, a name had already emerged in his mind.
Just thinking of this person felt slightly absurd.
Without waiting for Kikuno to respond, Natsuhiko accepted the information of the next challenger from Chrysa.
When he saw the photo attached on the data, with an older face printed on it, and the name written on the first line of the table.
Natsuhiko's pupils contracted.
He looked at Kikuno in disbelief.
"Can I... end the opening ceremony now?"
Kikuno completely ignored Natsuhiko's question.
"It seems you haven't missed much of the league's event information."
Keeping up with league events?
Natsuhiko had either been training Pokémon or monitoring the construction progress of the dojo recently, had no time for league event information.
It's purely because that name and photo on the information sheet was all too familiar.
"He comes from a region not yet disclosed by the league because the league's entry into that region faced considerable obstacles.
But this person is one of the proponents of the league's philosophy, possessing exceptional talent, and to expedite the league's entry, he was specially allowed to leave that region and travel through the current areas.
One of his goals is to challenge the strong in each region and learn battle skills."
Natsuhiko thought while holding the sheet.
He tentatively asked, "He's not the Champion of that region?"
"Champion? He indeed won the championship in that region's annual league, similar to Kanto and Hoenn's champions." Kikuno didn't seem to understand Natsuhiko's implication.
But hearing her words, Natsuhiko sighed in relief.
Luckily, not as monstrous as in the original story.
Because that person's name is...
Dan Emperor!
This is the man who can confidently say he's never lost in any official league event in the future!