Smoke started out as a ninja assassin of the Lin Kuei Clan. He was a friend and ally of Kuai Liang, the younger Sub-Zero, and had gone with him to Outworld on his mission to kill Shang Tsung. The two ultimately did not accomplish their mission however, and returned to their clan in Earthrealm. When Sub-Zero and Smoke returned to the Lin Kuei, they discovered that their clan had chosen to transform their best warriors into cyborgs, already performing the procedure on Sektor and Cyrax. Refusing to be automated into machines, Smoke and Sub-Zero turned on their clan and fled. Whilst Sub-Zero managed to escape, Smoke was captured by his peers and converted into a Cyborg, designated with the codename LK-7T2. Under the programming of the Lin Kuei, Smoke was forced to hunt his old friend and kill