I'm not sure what you mean. First ever since Part I? Because there were moments between Sakura and Sasuke in Part I. They weren't romantic from Sasuke's side, but they were at least kind moments that indicated some kind of positive bond between them.
In my opinion, Kishimoto has the same purpose in mind for SS as he did NH.
As I said in an earlier post (on the debate thread, I think) Kishimoto has been using Hinata's interest in Naruto and the spectre of Sakura's past feelings for Sasuke as plausible diversions to distract readers while he brings NS together for the end.
We're heading toward the conclusion of the story, and Kishimoto has to begin resolving things. You can see the moves he's made like pieces on a chess board. Hinata gets her brave moment to support Naruto in battle, then gets to hold his hand. We see her Infinite Tsukuyomi dream of being with Naruto, but we also see it's something that will never happen.
The only thing that remains for Hinata is either another panel showing her acceptance of NS (similar to the hug scene after the Pain invasion), or Naruto finally says something to her about appreciating her feelings but that he loves someone else. I'm guessing the former rather than the latter.
Now Kishimoto is moving the chess pieces to resolve the plausible diversion of SS. We have known that Sasuke has to be redeemed on some level before the story is done. Both Naruto and Sakura need it, albeit for different reasons.
A simple panel of Sasuke coming to Sakura's basic human aid -- and doing so without so much as a smile -- is in no way romantic, but shows readers a glimmer of the old Sasuke. The Sasuke who was a real teammate to Sakura and Naruto. I honestly don't expect much more to happen along these lines, but we'll have to wait and see for sure. If we do, it will likely be more of the same; positive but non-romantic interaction.
Since we know from Kakashi's thoughts that Sakura no longer feels the same crushy feelings for Sasuke, having Sasuke return to some level of respectful friendship with her will be enough for her to have closure. And really, more importantly, I suspect Sakura will be happiest when Naruto gets his closure with Sasuke, and Naruto's devotion to his friend is finally justified -- at least in part.
In my opinion? Kishimoto wants to us feel/recognize that once he has systematically removed all doubt about the other possibilities, NS will be all that's left. There's still one big, public confession that hasn't been made yet....
Well, I meant that it's been ages ago, you know. Seriously, over 440 chapters long.
You do make a good point. To me, NaruHina lost the credibility when the love aspect really never taken for than a glorified Lee, to the point you can only expose more in SD, much like Lee himself, go figure. It won't amount more than friendship if Naruto is a guy who don't move anywhere but up and not change a path. So, pretty much, it's not going to be anything more than friendship.
Now the fact she's in IT, well she fallen to a sequence that pretty much say this is as far as you can go here. In other words, never become canon because otherwise, all others have to be as well, including LeeSaku. There's no "only her will come true" because that don't work that way. If you ask me, I want her and all others to really develop on their own from their dream, because they don't need others to tell them what to learn, unless a speech for all. But all of them shouldn't be like
Hinata: Naruto-Kun, do you love me?
Naruto: No...
Hinata: I learn something today.
To me, it should be an act of their own to come up a resolution from their dream. Unless they want to push forward, but since her dream is amount to them, it won't happen.
Now for SS, look, the next chapter can make it or break it for me to follow along. If it's something nice like platonic or not, then I got to take note on it and see where this is going. If it's something and somehow continue the kitten streak, I'm done, because pretty much Kishi wants us to detest Sasuke. People say he get mercy out of this. To me, I see lessen the problem for Naruto, not for Sasuke. Otherwise, I don't think realistically Naruto can change him. Anyway, if there's nothing, then I still can't take it serious. Keep in mind, I'm only saying in a non-platonic level. I mean I would care for them in a plot development, but if I was supposed to invest my time to hope their love can happen, it must be done well. Now I wonder if this continues from the downhill spiral of Sakura to Sasuke or this is a moment of "job well done" and it has nothing to do with that development. That I'm curious. So until then, I don't know what to think of it.
It didn't have that much of a strong impact to it. Compare to 615, it doesn't feel like a big deal, but both of them aren't anyway. I guess because the mindset needs to focus on one area and one only. That's the problem with both 615 and 685. In 615, it was more about connection that Naruto has and can't let it go to waste. It was just the ending was a development to Hinata to receive the equality which works for her. In this chapter, Obito and Sakura has to bring back Sasuke to Naruto in order to win the win, but mixture of both of them getting hurt or getting weak lined up to the chapter purpose, and well, subtle hint on what is their driving force, all leads to mission complete that Sasuke got out of there, which Sakura and Obito assigned to. Is this all or more to it? If former, don't think more than platonic at all. Hell, don't think it lined up with the downfall development especially since she dropped the clue of her target purpose which Obito pretty much caught on. If latter, then we'll see.
Now, let me take 663. The chapter was "Absolutely" or whatever the meaning that has the same meaning. There was no distraction for Sakura. It's all about Naruto needing to be saved. We left off with her being so scared that he's going to die but calm herself by talking to him when he's not awake. Now I have said that before I can get excited, I need to know the follow-up because who knows that Sakura will get Sasuke along the way. Instead, we got what we wanted, and to some, overachieved. The chapter in her side was mainly focus on how she cannot let him die no matter what. Even her words are strange to say like as long she's there she is not going to let him die so easy. That's some strong devotion there. Then we got the CPR and needless to say, it was something else, the whole mood and the whole flashback that pretty much started it all. There's a reason why we don't get another CPR scene or anything else between them because this is a defining chapter that if you skip it, you're missing a lot.
So now, here we are, wondering what would happen next. Preview suggests that Naruto and Sasuke will get back together and maybe seal her. That said that does mean the latest chapter is just a service to his fans who really don't get this often and pretty much said "This is the closest I'll give you. NS need to be made, so I got NH and SS out of the way." I mean Kishi found the right timing for NH in which seem to be the last one, so could this be one for SS? We shall see.
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. Not to mention that both of them were extraordinary medics 
