Let's say that two divers on an NDL dive have the same careful ascent followed by a solid safety stop and have reached the point that they are safe to go to the surface. Diver A goes to the surface, and Diver B stays in the water for an extra 5 minutes.
When Diver B gets out of the water, yes, he will have less nitrogen in his body when he exits the water than Diver A had when he exited the water. But it's 5 minutes later now, and Diver A has been off-gassing faster while on the surface. So, at that point in time, Diver A has less nitrogen in his system than Diver B does. If they do a second dive together, Diver A will have less residual nitrogen at the start of the dive than Diver B.
The bubble argument is that if bubbles get too large to pass through the walls of alveoli, they have to be re-absorbed before they can be eliminated. That takes time. By that argument Diver A may have more nitrogen in their system than Diver B 5 minutes later. They may get even 6 minutes later, or 20, who knows. Ken's table suggests it's more than 12 minutes.
Personally when I've spent my 5 minutes at SS depth and have a choice to go up and do a surface swim, or stay down and follow the sand to shore, I choose the latter.