During the bell test, Sakura fainted. Instead of abandoning her and searching out Kakashi, Sasuke remains by Sakura's side until Sakura regains consciousness. An interesting decision on Sasuke's part, since when the formation of the team was announced, Sasuke had been the first to scoff and internally note two other teammates would only drag him down.

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Despite his words, when Sakura does drag him down by fainting at an inopportune moment, instead of being annoyed or ditching her, Sasuke doesn't abandon her in that helpless state (even though their team's current task wasn't even dangerous to them) and waited until she regained consciousness. There was no evident benefit for Sasuke to staying by Sakura until she regained consciousness; it had to be motivated purely by his belief that he thought it was the right thing to do, by concern for his teammate, or because he wanted to. Despite Sasuke's initial complaints about his team dragging him down, Sasuke's actions betray his words as Sasuke has shown already on Day 1 that he prioritized his team over his goals. Sasuke knows that the fastest way to achieve revenge for his clan is through becoming a ninja, and his ninja career was on the line during the bell test. Yet despite the time limit, Sasuke didn't hurry off to fight Kakashi himself, but rather prioritized his teammate and stuck by her side until she woke up.

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As a note, Sasuke is blushing slightly again after Sakura hugs him.

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A moment later in their conversation, Sasuke hesitantly reveals to Sakura that his older brother had caused him to cry.

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This admittance continues to surprise me because it's shockingly open for Sasuke, especially since there was absolutely no prompt for Sasuke to open up like this - he just did, without prompt and without any apparent reason. Sasuke doesn't go around telling people about the times he cried. He barely allows himself to cry at all, and he certainly doesn't go around telling people about what he is suffering through. Sasuke is a quiet sufferer, internalizing his trauma and haphazardly trying to deal with it by himself. I don't believe the theories (sometimes propagated by SasuSaku fans) that Sasuke had a crush on Sakura since their academy days, but honestly this surprising confession of Sasuke's is almost enough to make me believe he did. I wouldn't be surprised were this admittance placed a bit later in the series, after Sasuke and Sakura had spent time together on the same team and had gotten to know each other. But no, Sasuke brings this intensely personal revelation into the open, right out of the gate on the team's first day. He also mentions his goals to kill his brother briefly, seeming to want to impress upon Sakura how important his goal is to him.

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It's an interesting moment of Sasuke being startingly outgoing. He had spent his academy days avoiding establishing friendships with others and avoiding conversing with people in general. Yet this moment shows that he wanted to be understood. And he didn't want to be understood by just anyone, he wanted to be understood by Sakura of all people, despite the fact that they hadn't talked much before apart from when Sasuke had snapped at Sakura earlier for not understanding the pain of not having parents, and they knew very little about each other. Yet already Sasuke starts to reveal his inner turmoil and hint at his tragic past to her, freely allowing Sakura a glimpse into himself.

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Since Sasuke reveals that he was crying (something deeply personal, since crying is often wrongly perceived as being a sign of weakness), Sasuke was taking a risk with being vulnerable to Sakura. It speaks to a level of trust and feeling at ease with Sakura. Never again does Sasuke mention to anyone that he had been reduced to crying the night of the massacre. It's extremely interesting that Sasuke opens up to one of his two teammates so early on before he has gotten a chance to know them, and of the two, his first choice is Sakura, not Naruto.

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The picture this scene paints is that Sasuke is more comfortable with being genuine and vulnerable around Sakura than he is with Naruto. Certainly Sasuke enjoys his competitive brotherly dynamic with Naruto (whether he admits it or not), but Sakura offers something gentle and understanding, something different from his competitive brotherly rivalry with Naruto, and it seems that in some ways Sasuke is more willing to open up to Sakura's gentle nature and express the troubling matters in his heart than he is with Naruto.

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Sakura didn't completely know what to do with Sasuke's sudden openness, considering that she doesn't have experience dealing with C-PTSD victims. Nevertheless, she gives Sasuke a sympathetic ear and listens to him. Not just that, but despite her confusion she understands what Sasuke is haphazardly attempting to tell her is important, which is why she doesn't shrug his confusing, incomplete words off but seeks to learn more from Sasuke by inquiring further. She listens and learns by showing sensitivity, and in that moment that's what's important.

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Side note about the translation: I want to share my opinion on the translations of this scene, since a few fans believe that Sasuke is referring not to himself, but to Itachi crying. I personally have very little understanding of the Japanese language, so I'm completely relying on other fans' word on what is the most accurate translation for this scene - I have not researched it personally.

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The reason that fans assume Sasuke is talking about Itachi is because it appears that a more accurate translation of this scene has Sasuke leaving his phrasing ambiguous: "That time...crying..."

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In short, Sasuke doesn't specify who was crying, so fans fill in the blanks. While some assume Sasuke is talking about himself (since translations indicate that), some have said it is in reference to Itachi crying. 

 

While Sasuke referring to Itachi crying isn't impossible (technically Sasuke could be talking about literally anyone if his phrasing is so ambiguous, so fans are left only to their deduction skills to decide who Sasuke is talking about), it is improbable and far-fetched to the point of being unbelievable.

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The reasons that fans claim Sasuke particular phrasing is a foreshadowing of Itachi's story reveal is that the phrasing Sasuke uses in this bell test scene is evidently the exact same as the phrase he later uses to say that Itachi was crying the night of the Uchiha massacre during his talk with Obito. Additionally, in Part I Sasuke recalls a memory of Itachi with the sideways headband, which was the part when he had seen Itachi crying.

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There are several reasons why I think it is highly improbably that Sasuke is talking about Itachi during the bell test. 

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Reason #1: Sasuke didn't even remember Itachi crying to begin with. Canonically, Sasuke directly stated he didn't remember Itachi crying. Only after Obito revealed the truth about Itachi did Sasuke's forgotten memories resurface. So how could Sasuke tell Sakura about a memory he didn't even remember?

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Fans might point to Sasuke's brief memory of Itachi with the sideways headband in Part I as evidence that Sasuke did remember. But loss of memory around a traumatic event is a symptom of C-PTSD. Additionally, eyewitness accounts are not always reliable: Sasuke clearly only remembers the scary psycho version of Itachi, not the tearful Itachi. Note how different Itachi's expressions are in Sasuke's memory:

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One version looks frightening and unhinged, the eye opened wide, giving Itachi a terrifying and alarming face; notably his face is shadowed, which might be due to Sasuke's memory being hazy or unclear. Meanwhile the latter (and we can assume more accurate) memory shows Itachi looking sad and mournful; he has tears in his eyes, and Sasuke now seems able to remember Itachi's expression. Itachi's eyes are also not open wide to express sinister and harmful intent, but softened with sadness. Completely different expressions.

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Even if Sasuke did remember Itachi crying, we already know he dismissed such a sight as him imagining things. Not even Sasuke believed Itachi had been crying until much later in his teenage years. Sasuke had personally witnessed his older brother's tears and yet dismissed it as him seeing things. So why would Sasuke mention to Sakura that his mind had been playing tricks on him the night of the massacre, unless he wanted Sakura to know he had a problem with hallucinations?

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Reason #2: Why in the world would Sasuke even want to mention a crying Itachi? Crying is a sign of sadness, sorrow, or remorse; it's a symbol of a feeling of grief and loss. Tears usually garner sympathy. The only way Sakura yet knew of Itachi was as the man Sasuke wanted to kill, so why would the first detail Sasuke tell Sakura about Itachi be that he was not an unfeeling, evil monster, but rather a sad creature evidently capable of feeling sadness and the pain of loss? Wanting Sakura to empathize with Itachi when Sasuke hated Itachi so much doesn't make sense and doesn't align with Sasuke's character.

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If Itachi crying were truly such an important detail to Sasuke that it's one of the first things he wants Sakura to know about his past, then if that detail was so important to him that it stayed stuck in his memory (a memory we already know isn't great due to his C-PTSD and, well, memories grow hazy over time) even 5 years later, then Sasuke would question the reason behind Itachi crying, postulate theories for his brother's tears, and then confront his brother on the topic later when the encountered each other, demanding to know the reason why Itachi was crying.

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Sasuke hated Itachi, so it's likely that Sasuke edited his memories to fit with his narrative that Itachi was an irredeemable evil villain. Sasuke wanted to villainize Itachi, not victimize him. Remember, even after Sasuke learned the truth about Itachi, nothing about Itachi's actions changed, only Itachi's motives did, yet a mere shift in reasons for his actions made a world of difference from Sasuke's perception on how he viewed his older brother: he went from hating Itachi to loving Itachi solely because of a different set of motives. If Sasuke was already sensing that Itachi was a sympathetic villain as early as his genin days, don't you think his perception of Itachi would be a bit different in Part I than it was?

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Reason #3: Why would Sasuke mention Itachi to Sakura in ambiguous terms when he knew Sakura barely knew who Itachi was, other than as the man he wanted to kill? Sakura barely knew Itachi existed at all. It could be chalked up to Sasuke's poor skills at expressing himself, since he already seemed to be struggling with words, but still. If Sasuke's line is truly meant to be foreshadowing, then in my opinion it is too forced and sloppily written. Don't forget that Sasuke is still in his introduction phase in the bell test part, as this is only the beginning of the story. At this point, first-time readers know about as much about Sasuke as Sakura does. Since we don't know a thing about Sasuke's past yet, it seems more reasonable that Kishimoto be specific with Sasuke's dialogue if he's referring to another unknown character, not ambiguous and vague. Because if Sasuke doesn't specifically address who is referring to, readers are likely to deduce he is talking about himself without hints to the contrary.

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In the end, I think the disjointed phrasing Sasuke uses is merely a characteristic sign of Sasuke's usual tendency to trail off and to struggle with words when trying to share his intense feelings about something very deep and personal to him. As for him using the same phrasing in reference to Itachi's tears and to his own in the bell test, I think that is mere coincidence; people have a tendency to use a consistent turn of phrase unique to them.

 

Now it is possible that Sasuke is talking about one of his other fallen clanmates who was crying in terror before they were mercilessly slaughtered by Itachi, since Sasuke would sympathize with his fallen kin. But I think it is most likely that Sasuke is simply referring to himself, so that is the explanation I will stick with. Since the ambiguous phrasing leaves the interpretation to fan's deduction skills to deduce who Sasuke is talking about, I have deduced that Sasuke is referring to himself.