

Solidly placing Natsu within the upper ranks of the Spriggan. In response, Natsu took him out with ease: Fairy Tail, Chapter 500 Neinhart, one of the weaker Spriggans, found himself fortunate enough to be enchanted by Irene Belserion, the strongest female, into being vastly stronger, so much so that Brandish couldn't even use her magic effectively on him.

The Spriggan 12 are the elite guard of Zeref, each and every one of whom are stronger than any previous villains, including Mard Geer. The true growth we see Natsu have, however, is when we see Natsu fight the Spriggan 12. When Natsu returned, he used little effort to begin to melt the entire Grand Magic Games stadium, Domus Flau, which previously supported an entire fight between Natsu and others. One could possibly argue that the growth Natsu faced across this year of training was even greater the amplification he got from unlocking his Second Origin. The One Year Timeskip: Training For ZerefĪfter the events of Tartaros, where Igneel died at the hands of Acnologia, Natsu trained for a year to grow much stronger. Since Natsu was in training at this point and the point of reference happened before the first timeskip it's impractical for determining specifics but it's good in the grand scheme of things. When Natsu and Gildarts fought, Natsu hit Gildarts so hard he sent him skidding across the floor several meters, which is a direct, massive improvement over the Tenrou Island Arc where Natsu needed his Secret Art to make Gildarts (presumably having grown stronger) move a notably smaller distance back in the same way. Dobengal, one of the strongest wizards in Sabertooth (which itself is one of the strongest guilds in Fiore) who should be vastly stronger than Max, was treated like a child by Natsu (Chapter 283). Once Natsu gets his Second Origin unlocked, we see how Natsu does in the Grand Magic Games. Of course this is all just a very complicated way of saying what it practically is: A power-up.

Ultear's Arc of Time can make that vessel develop faster, which allows a wizard to use magic longer or use stronger magics. But there's a totally separate "vessel" from the main one, the Second Origin. Ultear says that each wizard has a limit on how much magic they can store in their "vessel" at a time. Second Origin is explained a bit weirdly, not as a power up.

So they have to resort to the alternative of Second Origin. Wanting the guild's reputation to come back up, they try to train, but due to some Celestial Spirit idiocy the team can't train at all. The guild can't even hope to compete in the Grand Magic Games, which is to decide who the strongest guild in the nation is. This is notable because Fairy Tail, over the seven years of Team Tenrou's absence, became one of the weakest guilds in the nation, as is made painfully obvious by a reading of Chapter 254 of the original series. This is seen as Natsu, who used to be the top contender for S Class Wizard, is no longer capable of defeating the likes of Max: Fairy Tail, Chapter 259 When Natsu returns, the seven years that have passed left Natsu completely and totally irrelevant in the power scale it's stated that only the stronger S Class Wizards like Laxus and Gildarts are still notably powerful. Natsu's growth for the Seven Year Timeskip comes in the form of unlocking his Second Origin. Now let us look at how Natsu grew across the timeskips. Suzaku one shots Natsu with a blitz in Chapter 80 of the sequel without any effort at all but in Chapter 100 his strongest attack can be reacted to and defended against by Natsu.Sting takes on Natsu and Gajeel at the same time in Chapter 295 and holds superiority over them but in Chapter 296 Natsu takes on both Sting and Rogue at the same time.
