Makes sense i suppose....we're on manga 477 now and the anime is up to chapter 400-410 so yeah, they're gonna catch up seriously fast, mainly because the Jiraiya and Itachi fights went super quick...Jiraiyas had filler (some attacks that werent in the manga) Itachi vs sasuke was pure manga so was very quick (aside from them overused sasuke on itachis back crap)
The fights appear to be done very quick with little messing around-which is good, it annoyed me when they dragged out fights, so theyre at least listening to fans it seems lol.
wow, come to think of it once 8tails is captured and seen to be a trick, pain goes after Konoha....We're gonna see anime sage mode in the next 4-5 months...if this filler arc doesnt last too long...unfortunately they appear to last 2 months (sora and guren) @_@