Well...in any actual battle, she could still have gone for his eyes if she wanted to. Goggles did nothing to protect them from that. However, eyes were far too sensitive and irreplaceable for her to target his seriously. She would not be known as the ninja that blinded her own Hokage in training.

It was supremely vexing when her alternate choice was just as useless as her other attacks, however. Particularly as his method of avoidance appeared to be using her own element against her. He moved with alarming speed, considering it seemed to be unaided by body flicker variants, although...pinpointing where she was shouldn't be a surprise considering his sharingan.

She didn't respond to his comment, though, because she was too distracted leaping backward off of the tree. Her hands curled around the hilt of the sword in a hasty sign, and earth exploded out from the trunk of the tree she had the corridor of earth running through. The defense was an automatic action, and thus with less restraint than she would have otherwise used. Still, it was nonlethal: a suddenly forming clawed hand designed to capture, to prevent his advance, further handsigns, or to allow her to attack.

At the very least, perhaps it's abrupt and explosive appearance might...startle him.