I have read that Kishimoto has decided from the beginning which ships will be canon and he even said that to pair that will become canon he likes to add some love intrest to spice up a love triangle so It means that he planned for NH and SS from the beginning. So disapointing, this men has realationship issues
All his Inteviews contradict with each other. I would suggest you to not believe them.
Here he is saying, he and his editors (so editors had a say in making Pairings) thought about putting Naruto with Sakura. If they decided to go for NS at some point of time then how could NH and SS were planned from the beginning?
Even if he did planned NH from the beginning, why didn't he properly place necessary hints in the Manga to make their relationship more believable??? It would just take 4 or 5 panels to show 2 people are interested in each other, you know. Instead, Kishi sought the help of a Movie to make Naruto fall in Love and for SS, there's nothing.
Anyways, I won't believe his interview when it comes to Pairings and Stuffs...