After reading a huge block of text about confessions in the Japanese culture, I'm pretty certain that 90% of them are ambiguous. And really confusing for us (the non-japanese readers). "Fake"/"True", those bipolar categories are just not enough to understand the inner reasoning. We don't possess the same social perspective, so that is why our interpretation is greatly impaired by our cultural background. In other words... a) we need RAWs (choice of words is very important); b) we need to make a thorough analysis of the situation (Sakura's POV, Naruto's POV, objective witness POV, author's POV) taking into account the japanese conventions; c) it's a pain in the ass.
For example, Sasuke's famous "thank you", that many SS shippers consider a sign of love or deep affection, can be interpreted (within the said social context) as a polite/mild way of rejection. No hidden meanings, no secret passion, nothing more but a short form to deliver his negative answer: regrettably (let us assume this) Sasuke couldn't accept Sakura's feelings because they weren't mutual. And nothing really changed between them since that day in the romantic department. The bonds that suffered were platonic in their nature.
I don't think his rejection was even mild. She poured her heart out to him and told him just how important he was to her and he responded by insulting her and what I'm guessing was a karate chop to the back of the neck.
