"How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun."

"...like a soldier, to the stage..."

Born in Nibelheim, a small town nestled amongst the mountains bearing the same name, Cloud was reared by his mother and was her only child.

His father died when he was still very young and his mother was left to live alone in their small house.

As described by Cloud, she was a vibrant woman who hadn't changed at all, when he last saw her. She is very concerned about her son's health and eating habits after he left and is especially worried about him succumbing to the temptations of the city to which she preferred that he would settle down with a nice older girlfriend to take care of him. She would die a few days later after that visit, in the Nibelheim fire caused by Sephiroth.

During his childhood, Cloud grew up without any friends. He really wanted to play with Tifa, the girl next door and the object of a young Cloud's affection, but her friends never allowed him into the group. He soon began to feel different and distanced himself from them, thinking they were childish and immature for laughing at every little stupid thing. However, he still secretly hoped that they would invite him in and so he continued to hang around.

The day Tifa's mother died when she was eight, Tifa went into the Nibel mountains thinking that her mother's spirit had passed through. She was accompanied by her usual trio and Cloud following closely behind. They would all desert her, except Cloud, who continued after her as she crossed the bridge. Tifa missed her step and Cloud ran to her, but didn't make it in time. They both fell off the cliff. Cloud only scarred his knees, but Tifa was knocked unconscious and remained in a coma for seven days. Cloud was blamed severely for the incident by her father and the townspeople. From then on, he became angry at himself for his weakness and got out of control, getting into fights not even caring who it was. That was around the same time he first heard about Sephiroth.

Years later and still blaming himself for Tifa's fall, Cloud decided to call her to the well. He thought she'd never come and that she hated him. A surprised Tifa came late that night unaware of what Cloud had to say. There he confessed that he would soon leave their hometown come spring. Unlike the other boys who were also leaving to find jobs, Cloud was going to join SOLDIER and become the best, just like the great Sephiroth. Awe-stricken, Tifa then made Cloud promise her that if he were ever famous, he would save her if she was ever in a bind. If she were in trouble her hero would come and rescue her. Cloud reluctantly agreed.

At the age of fourteen, Cloud leaves for Midgar to enlist in the Shinra army, but never enters the ranks of SOLDIER. As a guard, he meets Zack, who is in SOLDIER. He becomes Cloud's first true friend and comforts him when he experiences motion-sickness. Also while in service, he meets the legendary Sephiroth whom he begins to respect and admire. He would travel with the two men on a mission to inspect the disturbances at the Nibelheim reactor, two years later.

When they reach Nibelheim, Sephiroth asks him how it feels to be back in his hometown and that he wouldn't know because he doesn't have one. He goes on to tell him about his parents or at least his mother, Jenova. But embarrassed that he never made SOLDIER, Cloud remains in uniform to conceal his identity and refrains from seeing anyone there. He only visits his mother and for the first time enters Tifa's room. He is one of the guards to join Zack and Sephiroth and on their way to the reactor. They are lead surprisingly by Tifa who is now working as a tour guide and has been awaiting Cloud's return. She remains outside once they reach their objective with a guard Cloud blocking her enterance.

Zack and Sephiroth discover that a broken part is the reason for the malfunction, but furthermore, that instead of the system properly condensing and freezing Mako energy, it is producing monsters, or mutated living organisms. This revelation causes Sephiroth to examine his own creation and seek the answers in the basement of the Shinra mansion.

Sephiroth doesn't come out of the Shinra Mansion and continues to read Professor Gast's old research reports as if he were possessed. Zack leaves the inn to search for Sephiroth and finds him in the library. He begins to tell him that he was produced by Gast in the Jenova Project and is therefore a descendant of the Ancients. He accuses mankind of taking that which the Cetra and the planet have made without giving one whit in return and of hiding while they had sacrificed themselves to save the planet. Shortly after this speech, he leaves to see his mother.

Zack follows Sephiroth out of the mansion, only to find that Nibelheim is now consumed by a flames. Zack helps the injured civilians trapped in the fire with the help of Zangan, a visiting martial arts instructor who also happens to be Tifa's teacher. Cloud is unconscious, lying outside his home.

Zack proceeds to pursue Sephiroth, who is now back at the reactor with Jenova. Tifa is also there and finds that her father has been murdered by him. Enraged, she encounters Sephiroth as he is entering Jenova's chamber and wrestles the Masamune from him. She takes control of it with plans to stop him, but he seizes his sword and slashes Tifa, sending her careening down the steps. Zack moves on, rushing up the stairs after Sephiroth.

Zack suffers the same fate as Tifa and is thrown out of the room on to a pod. Cloud, who is now entering the reactor, has witnessed everything and looks around in horror. Decisively, he picks up Zack's sword and continues on. He finds Sephiroth inside and stabs him in the stomach as he turns to see the intruder. Having wounded Sephiroth, he castigates him for deceiving him then reveals himself to Sephiroth before leaving to help his injured friends.

He immediately goes to Tifa's aid. Having kept his promise, he moves her to a more secure area. However as he does this, Sephiroth, unfazed, exits with Jenova's severed head in hand. Cloud prepares to follow and as he does Zack orders him to kill Sephiroth.

Sephiroth heads towards the entrance of the reactor when he encounters Cloud on the walkway above the Mako pit. Cloud moves to finish him, but is met with Sephiroth's Masamune, which goes through his chest. Sephiroth lifts the sword with Cloud on it, dangling him over the edge. However Cloud puts forth a strong resistance and manages to reach ground. Cloud takes the edge of the sword and with all his strength, tosses it to the side taking Sephiroth with it. Sephiroth plunges into the pit, leaving Cloud collapsed on the rafter.

After the incident at Nibelheim, Cloud and Zack are recovered by Shinra and imprisoned in tubes to receive Mako Radiation Therapy and are injected with Jenova cells. They remain incased in those cells, located in the laboratory in the basement of the Shinra mansion, for the next five years. Their condition is monitored and a record is kept of their progress.

Zack is not affected by the treatment. However, a reaction to Jenova is detected in Cloud. One day as they are being feed by a Shinra employee, Zack, the more competent of the two, greets him with a swift blow and takes the opportunity to break free from his confines. Now liberated, he recovers his sword and helps Cloud escape. He drags a comatose Cloud out of a reconstructed Nibelheim and the two bum a ride from a passing truck headed to Midgar.

Zack provides Cloud with a SOLDIER uniform and on the way, Zack tells Cloud about his place to crash when he gets there, but then changes his plans to better suit the situation. He decides that they will become mercenaries willing to do anything for money.

As they approach Midgar, Shinra guards spot the two escapees and shoot Zack for resisting arrest. Cloud is left alone and is no longer pursued due to his diminishing consciousness.

Somehow Cloud manages to board a passenger train headed to Sector 7 where he encounters Tifa, who is now working as a bartender in the slums. They become reacquainted, but she finds that there are inconsistencies in his story. Upon hearing that Cloud is planning to go far away, Tifa offers him a job working for the anti-Shinra terrorist group AVALANCHE.