From a very young age, Kenjiro Hojo always sought the truth. Why did certain things happen? Why did others not? What was the cause of a reaction? He was fascinated with the way things work and that they could work very differently if something was changed. He was destined to become a scientist. He attended school in rural Wutai, moving to the ‘big city’ that was Junon once he had graduated. But he was stunned that there wasn’t a very large science division at the Junon Academy. And so, he got together with another group of scientists to create one.

With the assistance of Professor Gast, Hubert Bugenhagen, and Grimoire Valentine, the research department of the Junon Academy became the Department of Scientific Research. It wasn’t long after that they merged with the Shinra Electric Power Company and then the real work began. On a scientific expedition to the north, the group discovered an eons old life form encased in ice. Thinking they had found one of the fabled beings that called themselves Cetra, the humanoid was named Jenova. It was excavated from the ice cavern and taken to the Mount Nibel Reactor.

Several tests were performed and it was discovered that Jenova possessed an incredibly complex cell structure and DNA strain. It was then that Hojo deduced that Jenova could be used to create a human/Cetra hybrid and thus the Jenova Project was born. Dr. Lucrecia Crescent was brought onto the team, as well as Dr. Hollander and Dr. Gillian Hewley. The project aimed to create a hybrid and both Professor Hojo and Dr. Hollander had their own ideas on how that should happen. Thus, the team split with Hollander and Gillian leaving and going to Banora to continue their research. Hojo, Gast and Lucrecia remained in Nibelheim.