The manga is many times better than the anime (imo). The anime has too much fillers, the story drags on so much that it's freaking boring. The manga is much faster; probably because in the manga, it is possible to switch to another scene immediately without wasting additional frames. The anime always add a few extra minutes into useless scenes in order to blend; Orochimaru vs. Hokage is a perfect example, or focusing on a bird flying across the screen before an important fight (Somewhere in the Chuunin Exam).