She would have preferred to have had time to lay out a plan of dealing with attacks and other hostile encounters before they actually...encountered violence. They'd been on one mission together, but that wasn't enough to mean they'd work like a unit on their second, particularly when there were far more than three genin on a boat to protect. Things could go badly if they didn't adapt well to each other.

She didn't chip in on anything he said to the group of civilians, instead she quietly summoned Earth chakra, pressed a hand to the ground...and surrounded the frightened clients in a dome of earth. Within the circle of fire, of course, not around it. It was safer, in her opinion, to put a physical barrier between them and danger than rely on a barrier that would hurt anyone who panicked, and didn't obscure completely the positions of the civilians.

A ring of fire around a dome of Earth, though, seemed like a good defense. And would allow them to discuss anything necessary without having anyone cut in and demand explanations there weren't time for.

"They'll stay put." Whereas she didn't trust some of them to do that just by asking nicely, honestly.