Last time I checked, this manga wasn't a fairy tail or the IT. "This manga doesn't need to be realistic" is BS. You need to go over the manga and see how she feels about Sasuke from start to finish, because she may love him, but is it good for her? Does it make her feel special? Loved? Does it bring the best out in her? When she thinks about Sasuke, does it make her smile? Her ROMANTIC love for Sasuke after all the kitten they've been through is OOC, because that resulted in the mess we see today, OOC Sakura and OOC Sasuke. Sakura was holding onto her love for Sasuke because IMO she still believed he was that good guy who acknowledged her back in chapter 3. She was in love with that Sasuke. Sakura's a good person too, so she wouldn't give up on him...
Sadly Kishimoney sold out and that scene of her "realizing" in 699 was supposed to be our forehead scene. Actually, it should have been Karin in that scene. You don't have to ship SK, but she should have seen his kittening smile again, because in that scene he was smiling EXACTLY like he was when he saved her.
Sakura was never a part of Sasuke's life, she hasn't been there with him and she doesn't understand him at all. It's the same with Naruhina, only with SS it's different because both of them are main characters and a part of Team 7. Naruto never confessed to Sakura, and he never told her how big and charming her forehead was.
The problem with this is the fact that the love plot in this story is between Team 7;s love triangle, that's it. It was never Naruhina. Naruhina was only relevant through HINATA. That's all her character was about, Naruto. It's a glorified version of Lee's feelings for Sakura. It's funny because Hinata is a side character in the story, now she climbed up to MC status through fulfillment of her irrelevant love.
I agree with the bolded though. To add to that, if NS was canon,
1. 699 + 700 would have been each 40 pages+ and the story would have ended PROPERLY. No kids, no bullsh**. Small romance (forehead kiss etc.), tying up all plots, proper Team 7 moment, end of war declaration etc. "The Last" would be about Naruto and Team 7 fixing the ninja system.
2. No need for new era project
3. No part 3 or movies, maybe a small spin-off anime/manga on the next gen
4. Maybe a bonus chapter on the next gen (700.5)
All of this is happening because of greed and fulfilling SP's wishes. Sad that Naruto had to go through this, but I guess this is just the world that we live in now.