Taking inspiration from some coward's Pudong Barrier, Aburame Tetsumaru—who was also a coward—designed an exploration plan for the Land of Wind that was a massive undertaking. Its core was to use Worms to dig underground passages throughout the Land of Wind, then explore the entire country through those passages.
The plan would first establish Thirteen Underground Mother Hives to breed the Mineral Insect Swarm, eventually excavating two hundred thousand kilometers of main tunnels and an immeasurable number of branch tunnels, creating a vast underground network.
The network formed by these tunnels would not blanket the Land of Wind, nor would it be a straight grid like the borders drawn in the United States or Africa. A square, orderly network might look neat and theoretically guarantee finding the Giant Insects they sought, but the workload and difficulty of construction would skyrocket. There was no need for that.
No matter how powerful an insect was, it needed food and water. The larger it was, the more water and food it consumed every day. They had to live in environments with abundant food.
Desert environments did not lack sunlight or heat, nor did they lack land or air. They only lacked water.
Plants required water, and food required plants. Even if Giant Insects had chlorophyll and could survive simply by basking in the sun, they would need even greater quantities of water.
Therefore, the Land of Wind's underground tunnel network only needed to be dug along the paths of underground water veins. Whether ants or Giant Scorpions, they would surely be hiding at nodes where water veins converged.
Underground exploration was also more suitable for searching for insects. Giant insects normally moved underground, or at least hid in caves during the day. Otherwise, the scorching daytime sun would turn them into specimens.
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