I mean, think of it this way: it comes down to how often you come across words in any language including English (even in ENG: you may forget how to spell words correctly if you don’t use or encounter them often), kind of the same logic with Kanji: a Japanese person doesn’t know all Kanji in the same way English speakers doesn’t know every single word that exists in ENG.
There are over 5000 Kanji but only about half of that is used in Japanese or closer to 2136 while the remainder consist of ones only present within technical jargon (medicine, science, politics, etc.). or certain Kanji only has limited uses in some words (but mostly written in kana). That is also accounting for grammar being “straight forward” more than English or Euro languages.
The “real” hard part is numerous readings (depending whether it’s paired with kana or another kanji, reflected from kunyomi & onyomi plus nanori when applied in people’s names). What I hate about most online translators is that it often gets lost in translation (like words used in the wrong context but on their own it’s correct, however not right for the situation or topic at hand).
Have you ever read subtitles (日本語字幕) without pausing? Whenever I watch a non-Japanese movie, I just enable JP subs and you need a very good grasp on reading Kanji in real time since you’re reading translated dialog, and sometimes you can notice translation mistakes if you know where to look based on visual context within the scene. For Japanese movies: I sometimes enable closed captions to understand clearly what they’re saying.
Once you learn the 2000-ish necessary ones, kanji will actually be easier to read than kana and even the roman alphabet, because kanji are ideograms and pictograms, meaning, you won’t have to actually read it out loud in your head, you’ll just see an idea or a picture of something. It’s like reading “car” versus seeing “🚗”.