If Sasuke died at the end, a lot of people who hate him now would like him. He would have become a tragic character. Like if he used the last of his power to release the IT or revive people and then died of chakra exhaustion. A lot of people who hate him would have a hard time doing so. Instead Sakura mindlessly heals him without even verifying that he isn't a threat anymore and he lives, going on to not really do anything significant except make both Sakura and Naruto miserable. Great job, Kishimoto.
That's what I feel too, since in the end, I always disliked how Sasuke was way too mentally unstable, especially after Itachi died, and just did all he did, not to avenge his brother's death and his actions, BUT just to make himself feel better since he knew his life was a lie, and that since he couldn't beat Itachi and truly surpass him, he'd destroy everything else to make himself feel better. Even if it wasn't said, it's so heavily implied, like how when Naruto berated him for wanting to destroy the Kages, and how Itachi was nothing but a memory to him at the time, showing it wasn't for him, it was to make himself feel better, all because Sasuke couldn't handle what Itachi stood for.
But as I said we can see all too well that Kishi loved the Uchiha after all remember that they reason they lose their minds is cause they love too much, which is still BS and to make us think and try in Kishi own messed up way to make us feel sorry for them, again that is something that I will never do I am happy that they are almost all gone just wish Sasuke died then the stupid power hungry clan would all be dead and then forgotten.
Yeah, I hated that crappy excuse to make us feel sorry for the Uchiha either, Evil. Honestly, for my fanfic, I'd make that most of them who are corrupt became it because of their egotistical lust for power due to what the Sharingan does, which is why I also hated that Madara was made to seem sympathetic when he was just bat-kitten crazy in the long run! I also would make it that Itachi had been forced to execute the massacre, most likely by Danzo using Kotoamatsukami to force him to do something, but he barely struggled to get through it, and how he wanted Sasuke to kill him deep down as penance for his weakness.