I’m going to leave a link to @jprspereira’s wonderful guide here, from which I also stole the following image:
Which means, if we’re strictly talking about workload, it’s not going to get easier until the very end.
I’d say try not to overthink right away about patterns, because yes, these will get easier to understand with time. However, if you don’t have the right resources, you can also end up very confused and lost.
If you’re struggling on the first level to remember the readings and are puzzled about having hiragana added after kanji, I’d perhaps start with a learning resource that presents the japanese language in a broader way than Wanikani does. Wanikani is great at doing its job, which is helping you learn and retain kanji, but it’s not supposed to teach you how the language works altogether. I’d perhaps try reading the guide I mentioned above for an overview about what you should/can expect from Wanikani, and then I’d search around for some information concerning other resources for a more generalist approach to learning japanese.
Hopefully this makes sense to you. Best of lucks, and I hope you’ll find your own way to tackle those intimidating first challenges from learning the language!