Five years later...
Hojo sat watching Sephiroth on the table through a small, one-way window, supressing all emotions as he watched the little boy struggle through another mako injection. The kid had come a long way and was far ahead of the normal development of a child, at least in terms of mental capacities anyway. In fact, Sephiroth had surpassed all of Hojo's expectations and was stronger and smarter than Hojo and even JENOVA had ever thought possible. The boy had no idea who his real parents were of course. Soon after Sephiroth was born, Hojo had Lucrecia transported to a secret location only he knew about it. This was because he had the men transporting her killed to protect the secrecy of the location so only he knew about it. Some nearby waterfall, a place he felt nobody would ever look for someone. Soon after this, Hojo whisked Sephiroth off the Midgar to begin a long childhood of testing, experimentation, and training. He'd played the role of a scientist and nothing more, never giving any indication to the child or anyone else that Sephiroth was of his own flesh and blood. Once, though, Sephiroth asked him what'd happened to his parents, why they weren't around.
"Your mother died giving birth to you," Hojo explained. "As for your father, well...hee hee hee...what does it matter?"
"Nothing, I guess..." Sephiroth had replied, a little disappointed over this.
Sephiroth groaned a little on the table and Hojo couldn't say he didn't sympathize with the child. Unlike most everything else in the world, it didn't matter how much mako you got per injection, you got sick nonetheless. There was no, "I'm used to it so small or even medium amounts don't affect me." The same applied with JENOVA cells, though those were much more volatile and Sephiroth had all he needed, save for an injection he'd get upon getting into 1st Class in SOLDIER, something Hojo couldn't wait for. Hojo could feel that JENOVA had done little with the child for now, mainly because Sephiroth was too young. JENOVA could wait though...that was no problem.
Hojo's small timer went off, signaling that the time was now for Sephiroth to call it a night and rest his body. He called someone else in, one of his assistants, to put Sephiroth to bed. Sephiroth glanced around the room and saw the assistant, but didn't move at first. As soon as the assistant reached out to him, Sephiroth grabbed the man's arm and ripped it right off the man. Blood spurted everywhere and for a single, terrifying second, Sephiroth's eyes took on a completely different look, one of a madman. This quickly went away, and, as history would demonstrate later, it would not come about again for another twenty-five years. Hojo called in two more assistants to take Sephiroth away, but this time Sephiroth did not resist. He simply went with them and caused no more trouble. The now one-armed man lay on the floor, slowly bleeding to death as he began losing consciousness. Hojo himself took the man and had him treated for his injuries. As he went back to his lab, he remained shaken over what'd happened. JENOVA was definitely in him, and that had served as a reminder not to count her out. Hojo sighed a little as he walked in the lab and sat down in front of an array of computer screens and papers. He had a long night ahead of him as usual, a night of calculations, planning out tests, the works. Hojo sighed again and went to work with even more resolve than usual, thinking to himself, "One day, that kid'll be known by our enemies as the Demon of Shinra.