"Wouldn't it be better to leave her in my care?"
The Third Hokage was taken aback. He didn't understand what Youhu was getting at, so he looked at him and waited to hear his suggestion.
Youhu cleared his throat and said:
"Third Lord, you have a lot on your plate and rarely have time to look after children. I heard from Captain Kakashi that Naruto, whom you adopted, was always going hungry. And when he went fishing in the Back Mountain, he almost got caught by Obito."
"I'm worried that if Karin is left to fend for herself, she might grow resentful over things like that and come to resent you, Third Lord."
"She might even betray the village one day because of that resentment..."
Kakashi, standing nearby, was stunned. When had he ever told Youhu anything about Naruto? But he was always talking with Youhu about the past, so perhaps he really had mentioned it...
"Naruto was just an exception. I gave him enough money..."
At the mention of Naruto, the Third Hokage felt he had little defense. He knew that for a child of Naruto's age, companionship mattered more than money.
As Hokage, he simply didn't have time to look after Naruto.
But he couldn't hand Naruto's custody over to someone else. All he could do was let Naruto quietly lick his wounds alone.
That was the fate of a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Karin's situation was similar to Naruto's, but unlike Naruto, she wasn't a Jinchuriki. He didn't need to take custody of her.
If Karin lived next door to Naruto, and Kakashi and the others looked after Naruto while supposedly caring for Karin...
The Third Hokage quickly came up with a suitable solution. But he wanted to wait for Youhu to speak first, then reluctantly offer this fairly