Ok so I watch Naruto (in jap of course, they sensor the English version too much and they messed up the voices on the English version).
Anyway I also read the manga, but I find it annoying that the episodes are like 100-odd chapters behind.
I mean I just finish reading about something (I won't say as I'm not sure about the spoilers policy) then I watch Jiriaya v pein fight, and it just annoys me.

About the episode part, I'm 100% like you. I don't read the manga though. But yeah maybe they should speed up the episodes a bit, because for us people it's annoying to get spoilers from manga readers and it's better if it wasn't too far away behind the manga. Oh well, Kishimioto's decision.